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| The best lunch you will ever have. |
Alas, that's not possible, so instead, here's a bunch of articles, videos, and other assorted detritus that's been keeping my attention the past couple of weeks***.
-While in Barcelona, on 10/10/10, it started surfacing that the Simpson's "couch gag" that night was one for the ages and supposedly story-boarded by legendary social commentator/graffiti artist/public nuisance, Banksy. The video went viral and there was some debate if it had actually even aired on FOX (if you haven't seen it yet, you'll understand why), or if it had just been planted on YouTube and made to look like it had aired (which also added an unintentional layer of commentary regarding the state of television). Turns out it did air, and Banksy was the genius behind it, which only makes it awesome-er. Take the time to watch it, believe me.
-Continuing in our theme of old news, here's the fake/satirical senior thesis PowerPoint presentation a Duke female made about all of the athletes she fornicated with while in school. Again, genius.
-This is a write-up of a study review conducted by scientists at the University of Manchester that suggests that cancer is a man-made disease, caused by environmental factors such as pollution and diet.
-If you're a Mac user, or any computer user, really, you are well-aware of the dangers of distraction. Our computers are loaded with websites, apps, and games that, when combined with the speed of our internet connections and the efficiency of our machines, threaten our ability to get shit done. Gigaom has a list of ways to fight this.
-This piece is from The Huffington Post and presents a fascinating idea--what if the reason Americans are so fat is because we're treating obesity with the same "just say no" approach that was and is so unsuccessful with drug addicts? This is yet another piece really worth your time. You'll be really surprised to see just how close some people's eating habits are to drug habits.
-"Homemade Spacecraft," courtesy of Luke Geissbuhler and Vimeo, is one of the coolest videos you'll watch this week, and probably next too. Pardon me for sounding old, but kids today, man, they don't know how good they have it.
-The Yankees season ended last we--shit, that's all I can bring myself to type about it. During the ALCS, Joe Posnanski, one of our most talented living baseball journalists, re-posted his '03 piece on Tony Pena, current Yankees bench coach and then-manager of the Kansas City Royals. If you don't get misty at points during this, I question the assumed presence of a beating heart in your chest.
-More recently in SI is this piece from Jeff Pearlman on Manhattanville Men's Basketball Coach Pat Scanlon. Very cool stuff.
-Kanye is going in. That's really the only way you can look at it. His G.O.O.D Fridays stuff, his two official singles, "Power" and "Runaway," an upcoming album, and now this, the full-length short film for "Runaway." Even if you don't like Kanye, you should pay attention, because we're currently watching as one man yet again pushes an entire music genre and the associated culture in a new direction.
-The Amateur Gourmet is a great food blog--fun, well-written, and delicious. Adam Roberts is the man behind it and he recently posted his offering to the "It Gets Better" campaign and it's such a fantastic piece of writing. I'm a sucker for family stories and this one nails it. Kudos, Adam.
-Apple (you didn't think I wouldn't include SOMETHING about Apple, right?) recently upgraded their MacBook Air line and as usual, they are sexy as shit. I really, really wish I had a need for a notebook computer, but I don't. Of course, there's been a bunch of debate about where these new products fit into the current technological landscape, especially from a company that recently declared the netbook dead and buried. Well, here's a well thought-out answer.
-Okay, fine--one more Apple-related post. This is from the Bloomberg "Game Changers" series. The Steve Jobs story. Danielle watched this with me and was captivated, so yeah, you definitely don't need to be a nerd to enjoy.
-I'm on a David Foster Wallace kick again, and luckily, in 2010, the internet is awash in his stuff. Here's the syllabus from the English 102 class he taught at Illinois State University. It’s disgusting--the man even wrote the shit out of the "aims of course" section of a syllabus! This is an "unpublished story" of DFW's, posted on the extremely cool blog 454 W 23rd St New York, NY 10011-2157. Now, I did some research and it turns out that this "unpublished story" is two parts from a reading he did on 12/6/00 at the Lannan Foundation, where he called them and another piece he read in the middle, “three fragments from a longer thing.” Here’s the transcript of that event, too. My suggestion? Read both posts—you’ll get a feel for the “unpublished” piece, as well as for what he was going for at the reading. And finally is this piece from the NY Times, about Karen Green, DFW’s widow, an artist in her own right, and how her husband’s death is influencing her work and her life.
-Finally, is this video from Grant Achatz, the chef/wonderchild behind Alinea:
Ever wanted to know how the mind of a genius chef works? This explanation of "flavor bouncing" is a start.
That's all for now, folks. Oh, and if Artificial Night and my Twitter feed wasn't enough for you, I now have a Tumblr, too, so be sure to check out Not Stolen. Permanently Borrowed. There's already some fun shit being posted there, too.
And again, stay tuned for some upcoming food snuff stuff.
Always,
JS
***It should be noted that, theoretically, I've got a bunch of posts coming about our time in Barcelona, especially our meals at ABaC and Comerç, 24, two of the greatest meals of our lives. As I previously remarked via Twitter, I didn't shoot food porn during those meals; I shot a food snuff film. But yeah, again, those posts are coming, I promise.
