We Wish You A...

To all the Christians out there:

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!!

(My blog has gotten no comments for several weeks so I am officially putting it on hiatus. No point in posting if no one's reading. Maybe people will be back next year.)

The Act

I was never a fan of William Carlos Williams, but this poem struck me...

THE ACT

There were the roses, in the rain.
Don't cut them, I pleaded.
They won't last, she said.
But they're so beautiful
where they are.
Agh, we were all beautiful once, she said,
and cut them and gave them to me
in my hand.

Please do share your own thoughts.

Kite Runner and Bloomberg

I saw The Kite Runner. It was good. It included everything from the book, but cut down so spare, entire scenes distilled to a single sentence, all the details and history and nuance whittled away to bring it down to a two-hour movie. For example, the climactic scene with Assef flashes by in seconds. As a result, the feeling is entirely different. There's none of the tension, the cringing as bad things pile on top of one another, that stress that made the book so visceral. The movie is detached. Just things happen, without creating momentum. It has the feel of a low-budget independent film, with none of the Hollywood slickness.

Christmas is beautiful in the city, again. Skaters at Rockefeller Center beneath the Christmas Tree just make my heart skip. The streets are packed with tourists. A friend took me on a personal tour of the Bloomberg building (see photos right and below), which, founded by now-NYC-mayor, makes financial consoles and films Bloomberg television channel live on the first floor. It's pretty impressive-looking in there, if a bit cold in feeling.

More skyscrapers

The real estate boom, which petered out elsewhere but continues to send prices skyrocketing in Manhattan, has contributed to the throwing up of new buildings everywhere, including signature skyscrapers that will define the New York skyline forever. Some of the new buildings to rise soon include Gehry's IAC building on the West Side Highway, his Beekman Tower (see right) downtown, Nouvel's building across from the MoMA in midtown, and Calatrava's 80 South Street down at the seaport. (And of course, someday, the very un-special Freedom Tower at ground zero.) Alas, the new buildings that have already gone up--like the New York Times building and the Time Warner Center, are modestly interesting at best. The most striking is Hearst Tower, which really stands out in the skyline, but which I wouldn't call pretty -- interesting, but not pretty. Hoping the new projects add more to the city.

Time Out NY

Hey, New Yorkers, get a free two-year subscription to Time Out New York, no strings attached, here.

As a huge fan of Method hand soap for its beautiful container, I had to try Method bloq body wash, for it's unique square packaging. I do so judge a book by its cover (and am also cheered on by Method's eco- and animal-friendly policies). This particular design is strikingly masculine, which is unusual in bath products. (Why any men go for that stupid Axe junk is beyond me, it's just awful-looking and the marketing is moronic.) The texture is very good, almost more a smooth body lotion than a soap. I chose green mint, which was unfortunate, because as refreshing as menthol feels in your mouth, feeling that stinging burn all over your body is just awful. If you get this stuff, stay away from mint. (Smells good, though.)

Went to Gotham comedy club again. One of the weakest shows I've seen there. Included SNL's Darryl Hammond (although he actually looked like this), who had some funny stuff but seemed drunk. Also Ben Bailey from Cash Cab, a Discovery Channel show I'd never seen but apparently other people have because he assumed we'd know what he was talking about. Still, funny, good times.

冬至

Just a reminder: tomorrow is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year and the beginning of winter. Traditional day in Taiwan for eating 湯圓.

Word of the day: louche (read in today's NY Times review of Sweeney Todd).

No special post today, because I haven't been getting comments, which I take as a reflection of lack of interest. Perhaps you're all bewitched by the holidays?

Thou shalt not have bad grandparents

I was reading the Ten Commandments today, and noticed this line in #3:

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image... thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me...

The italics are mine. Punishing the great grandchildren for the sins of their ancestors? Isn't that horrible? (Also, why do they still use "thou" in Bibles, the original Hebrew has no such form!?)

I saw Amélie. It was a gem. Such a sweet movie. Ok, I didn't like the ending. But I still came away feeling happy. Plus, Paris is so beautiful, and French sounds so pretty, that setting alone gives the movie an extra half-star rating.

Cha-an & 22,000 animals

I have had some good food lately -- standbys like malawach with chocolate, bananas, and strawberries at Press Toast, and new items like sake cheesecake at Kyotofu. But who wants to read about food? I'll instead let you know about a new East Village discovery, Cha-an, an authentic Japanese teahouse (9th St between 2nd and 3rd Aves). The tea is good, the decor is good, everything was beautiful. This place was top-of-the-line in teahouses, no offense to places like Teany and Saint's Alp which are great but aren't doing the fancy thing. The even have a little room for tea ceremonies. Tea here costs as much as a meal in Queens, but it's a little tea gem.

I did a calculation of how many animals each American meat-eater kills each year: 284 animals, including 1/7 of a cow, 1/2 a pig, 1 turkey, 29 chickens, 23 fish, and 230 shellfish. Over an average lifetime, that amounts to 22,000 animals, including 11 cows, 31 pigs, 73 turkeys, 2258 chickens, 1800 fish, and 18,000 shellfish. There are other estimates published, but these are the most thorough in existence (so far). Imagine all those animals crowded in front of you. An enormous audience. Is it really worth all that carnage, just for palate preference? If you're veg, think of how much good you're doing! (And, if you do try to spare animals, start with chickens and fish!)

Class Action Lawsuit

Have you eaten grilled chicken at McDonald's, Burger King, or another national chain? If so, would you be interested in participating in a class action lawsuit to make these companies to label a carcinogen in the meat? Especially if you live in New Jersey, but New York or Pennsylvania too, let me know and I'll hook you up.

I keep watching the presidential debates to try to figure out who to support, but they always say meaningless political talk. "I support better health care, a stronger economy, a better environment, and cute puppies." I really can't tell one from the other. With notable exceptions of Dennis Kucinich, Mike Gravel, Ron Paul, and John McCain. I have to say that Kucinich and McCain are my favorites. But perhaps you, dear readers, have other opinions and can point out where candidates have different positions on issues. I'd love to know about it. The whole Obama/Clinton thing of experience versus judgement is stupid and meaningless. So, an open mind is listening, who's the better candidate?

NYSE

Led a protest against KFC at the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street today. New York is so pretty.

Had a nice Hannukah-closing dinner. Indian food. Delhi Palace has my favorite utapam.

Me in foreign

I found that my name appears in a lot of foreign language articles.

Spanish: La Agricultura de Races Empeora la Calefacción Mundial
French: Les pires ennemis de l'environnement
German: Positionspapier: Massentierhaltung ist nicht nur tierquälerisch, sondern auch in hohem Maße klima- und umweltschädlich
Chinese (as 諾姆．莫爾): 「禪味」飄入華爾街
Lithuanian: Vegetarizmas laikomas efektyviausia kovos priemone prieš pasaulinį atšilimą
Finnish: Luomutuotteet ja lastenruoat vapaita torjunta-ainejäämistä

Kind of cool. O frío. Ou froid. Oder Kälte. 還是凉....

Happy Birthday!

If today is your birthday, have a happy one.

It is also the last day of Chanukah. Happy Chanukah, everyone!

Foie gras in Columbia

For my readers in Columbia, look how easy it is to make a difference in your own town:

Columbia Flier: "Following outcry, it's au revoir to foie gras"

In a tip of the hat to my sister, a Pearl Jam fan, I enjoyed the lyrics to Yellow Ledbetter.

Happy Hannukah

Hannukah is here. It is an odd holiday. It celebrates the dumbest miracle ever -- long-burning oil? Sounds like a commercial for Mobil. I've read about more amazing miracles on my sister's blog. People say it's a minor holiday then make a huge deal out of it. People play dreidel, a game that no one has ever found actually entertaining. We give gelt, which is as best I can tell fake money, actually made of fake chocolate, actually made of some kind of brown wax. Perhaps to remind us of the hannukah candles. Which in turn remind us of the oil. It's all about subtlety and indirection, I guess. Like the strangeness of we, as Jews and Americans, celebrating an insurgency's defeat of foreign occupation.

Not only do we celebrate vanquishing oppressors, we do it with fried foods, showing that we can hurt ourselves without the help of others, thank you very much. Foods like latkes, which are a kind of oil infused with bits of potato. And doughnuts. Yes, Krispy Kreme is traditional Jewish food. Take that, nog. Which isn't even a word. What are Christians thinking?

What I'm saying is, it's an odd holiday.

I'm already annoyed by the nonstop Christmas music pumped into all the stores, but fortunately for Christians, who have trouble putting together a decent holiday of their own (what's up with bunnies hiding eggs?), much of the caroling has been contributed to by Jews: "O Holy Night" (Adolphe Adam), "Christmas Song" (Mel Torme), "White Christmas" (Irving Berlin), "Let It Snow, Let It Snow" (Sammy Cahn and Julie Styne), "Silver Bells" (Jay Livingston and Ray Evans), and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (Johnny Marks), as well as the score of "The Grinch That Stole Christmas." Which begs the question, how come there are no good Hannukah songs? "I had a little dreidel"? Please.

At least Jews don't have to lie to their kids, which is not just a lesson in integrity, but it means when our kids are happy unwrapping gifts, they beam at us with thanks, and don't just say, "Screw you daddy, I love Santa."

NAFTA HIghway

Did you see the Republican YouTube debate? You may remember Ron Paul speaking about his opposition to the NAFTA superhighway being built from Mexico to Canada. Apparently he thinks it's an insidious plot to create a North American Union. Apparently three of the eight Republican presidential candidates have co-sponsored a House of Representatives resolution denouncing this project. So it amazes me that there is no such thing. It is pure urban legend. There is absolutely no evidence of any plans for any such a highway. [Source: Washington Post Fact Checker]

Not that I see any problem with a highway going from Mexico to Canada.

I don't know if some of these Republican candidates are freaks or just pandering to freaks in the Republican party, but either way, it's a little bit scary. So far, among the Dems, they all seem like pretty good people.

Scrabble

You may recall that Scrabble was invented here in Jackson Heights. Well, today I played Scrabble with my ex-girlfriend's ex-boyfriend's ex-girlfriend. I just like saying that. Now I need to befriend her other ex-boyfriend just to increase my fun. She beat me by four points. But if I'd known that you can pluralize the word "qi" (for future reference, you can), I totally would have won.

My Samsung Blast phone is very pretty, but not well designed. It's cool that it can do a lot of cool things, but it does them all very badly. Still, it's pretty...

Alien

This cracked me up: