Monday, March 31, 2003


The Brits have much cooler code names for their operations.

Here are some unintentionally hilarious ideas for overthrowing our corporate masters. A lot of their suggestions affect local workers more than they will multinationals, but I suppose they mean well.

If Iraq's leadership had to answer the same questions US leadership does...this made me laugh pretty hard.
Could You Comment...?

Sunday, March 30, 2003


Everything you didn't really want to know about SARS.

Saturday, March 29, 2003


Wag the dog, indeed. A movie company discusses going to Iraq to get free special-effects footage of buildings exploding.

Another peace advocate changes his mind after spending time with the Iraqi people.

Farhad Manjoo reports in Slate that the CIA is using text messaging to reah Iraqi generals. What a weird-ass world we live in.

Friday, March 28, 2003

Thursday, March 27, 2003


My friend Chris Albritton, a freelance journalist has raised $10,000 through his website and has gone to Iraq to cover the war independently. He's a wonderful guy--I met him through my show a couple of years ago when he was at the New York Daily News. He's really a wonderful journalist, and I hope if you like the writing you'll take the opportunity to let others know what he's doing.

Hmmmmmm. Is that where the Fedayeen get their impressive coordination from?

I'm sorry, but how much shit did America have to take for that missle yesterday, which intelligence indicates is probably Iraqi?

How much will I hear about this today on the BBC? Phhhhht. Don't hold your breath. We won't know for certain for weeks, but I expect the story to take a mysterious back seat just about...wait for it...now.

I so enjoy snopes.com...here is the debunking of the cheesiest shuttle explosion photographs ever. I really enjoy how, no matter how silly, they will patiently explain why they are hoaxes.

1. There once was a man from Peru
Whose limerick stopped at line two.


2. There once was a man from Verdun.

Wednesday, March 26, 2003


From our friends at the New York Times: The Upright Citizens Brigade, the respected alternative troupe, has found a new home. The company, which runs one of the largest comedy acting training programs in the country and is host to dozens of comedy shows, lost its Manhattan theater on West 22nd Street in November after the city found a zoning violation. Now the company is planning to reopen at a larger space at 307 West 26th Street, formerly the Maverick Theater.

Congrats, kids!

How do you smuggle six tons of turtles on an airplane? Ask Thai Air.

Bastards.

Excellent piece by Thomas Friedman detailing a scorecard for the war that was pointed out by my wife. Well reasoned, partisan-free and balanced. Love that Friedman!

Tuesday, March 25, 2003


Oh for Christ's sake: THE ONLY THING FRENCH ABOUT FRENCH'S MUSTARD IS THE NAME!

Ted Kruckel paints a diary of fiscal woes for his NYC PR firm for New Yok Magazine in this interesting portrait of the suddenly downwardly mobile.

United Press International: Morocco offers US monkeys to detonate mine. It doesn't say that we've ACCEPTED the monkeys.

Drudge Report headline: DOLPHINS JOIN FIGHT AGAINST SADDAM!

Sunday, March 23, 2003

Saturday, March 22, 2003


Excellent article by Paul Johnson on the future created by Mr. Chirac.

Friday, March 21, 2003



I want this.

Microsoft ad pulled by ASA...they were claiming that they made hackers obsolete. Good lord.

This CNN reporters warblog was so much more interesting than what CNN has to offer, they made him shut it down.


Single New Yorkers Seek Soulmates in the Dark.

JM and I are so going to this--who wants to come?

And don't shoot rubber bands.

Don't reposition my Star Wars figures.

Michael Moore: an exercise in self-publicity.

Now Bezos wants a patent for how website auction bidding gets laid out. I think. The text is pretty opaque as to what they are patenting.

I've noticed that THE ONION has been duplicating itself an awful lot as well...and now The New York Press asks them to please stop. They say it's a spring break thing--but I'd swear it happens more and more frequently.

Somebody stole Angelina Jolie's clothing! Money quote: "There were 20 outfits in the collection and now the nine most glamorous have gone."

Heather Mac Donald lays it out over the behavior of Sharpton and Company after two NYPD undercover cops were brutally executed last week.

Scalia requests ban on broadcast media at talk He's picking up a fredom of speech award and he wants to forbid television coverage? The weird, weird world of the Supreme Court!

San Francisco protesters stage a 'vomit in'. Weird and nasty--but where are the details? How did they do it? Was it at all effective?

Lileks in rare form. He made me laugh out loud after the day we've all had.

Gas Mask Fetish. Ooh la la!

Jesus H. Christ.

National guardman changed his name to Optimus Prime.

Thursday, March 20, 2003


A grainy picture of me in a Seattle paper. I'm listed as a reason artists shouldn't kill themselves--I question that, though it is flattering, in a way.

A neat independent film: No Extra Day

Wednesday, March 19, 2003


Look kids! It's Michael Ovitz's Gay Mafia!

Because we all need a laugh: The 101 Dumbest Moments in Business

A peace activist is confronted by an Iraqi exile on live radio.

A 30 second pitch for your elevator encounter with a FOX executive: Phillip Brock, Unconventional Detective.

Tuesday, March 18, 2003


An entertaining nutball composes music to die to, among other things.

The Wi-Fi Dilemma. Wireless at McDonald's? I don't think so.

The French U-Turn. I think we all saw this manuever coming.

Baby Wipe Hand-Out Suggests Desert War Is Coming

WaPo introductory article on 50 Cent for all the white kids who ain't heard of him. Note to self: do NOT go into rap promotions as viable career path.

Monday, March 17, 2003


The story of my days.

More on the offensive dog commercial from a frequent reader:

I saw that dog breath commercial when I was over in England the other week. It was offensive! It was gross. It sounds pretty bland, but it was really well done. It looked like he was puking dog. You didn't know what to expect. It was a cross between a close up of a woman giving birth and puke. That's what it looked like. I wouldn't have jumped on the wagon to have it pulled from the air, but I could see why it upset people.

Does this really sound offensive? It must look pretty strange. I wish I could see that.

Hitchens does a good job summarizing some of the issues on both sides of what to do about Iraq, and captures exactly what I don't like about Jimmy Carter. He's a nice guy, but I still can't believe he got a Nobel Peace Prize.

Hasidic fish warns that the end is nigh.

A little Irish proverb on the occasion of St. Patrick's Day...an oldie but a goody:

May those who love us, love us.

And those who don't love us,

May God turn their hearts.

And if he doesn't turn their hearts,

May he turn their ankles,

So we may know them by their limping.


From one of our frequent readers:

And here's something for my Top Ten List of Reasons Why You Know You're Unemployed. #10: The baristas at Starbucks see you so often that they comp you for coffee. (Yes, this happened to me the other day: the barista told me I was such a good customer that my "money was no good" there.)

Friday, March 14, 2003


In a related story, our old friend Farhad Manjoo has a story at Salon on the increasing gap between reality and employer expectations. Bill Lessard from Netslaves serves up some juicy quotes, and it paints a dismal picture--all the power is in the hands of the corporations, and you'd better be ready to kiss the boot of your masters if you expect to even get an UNPAID internship. Dark times, indeed.

CNN informs us that U.S. jobs are jumping ship. The glories of a global economy--great for corporations, bad for non-incorporated consuming proles. (Yes, that would be us.)

Thursday, March 13, 2003


Holy Reconstituted Meat Product: Spam is now 40% of all email traffic.

Saw a cool show tonight, at which they asked us to support THAW, Theatres Against War. They directed us here, for possible curtain speeches. Curtain speeches? Read Tony Kushner's. Come on back.

Okay, I haven't been very political on the blog, but I have to say that is the worst curtain speech of all time. Ick. Unless you are doing a show that is an anti-war benefit, for the love of God don't polarize your audience and simultaneously bore them to tears with the endless tirades on this page. Say something short, or mention the existence of THAW if you must...but these things are wretched. A lot of art is already terrible in the world--it doesn't need help.\

Tuesday, March 11, 2003


By now this freaky cat ad for Nokia is all over the Web, but here's another mirror if you aren't tragically hip enough to have seen it 10 hours ago, when all the cool kids were mailing links to one another.

A good little Slate article on the future of memory enhancement.

Monday, March 10, 2003

Thursday, March 06, 2003


A friend writes:

I'm a slave to my couch. I love it so. I barely get off it. This is terrible! Wonderful, terrible couch.

I know what he means. Right now I am ready to strangle Mother Nature with a length of telephone cord for giving us another six inches of snow. It is March. In my book, it is spring...or at least Mud Season, as we called it growing up. I am ready for a change of scenery.

Sunday, March 02, 2003


Maybe I am going to hell, but I found this story about the trials and tribulations of human shields absolutely hilarious.