AI Nailed

Justine Elias, in the Village Voice's 2001 Films in Review:

This is the image in A.I. that to me sums up the team of Spielberg and Kubrick: The fugitive mechas escape to Smut Island or whatever it's called, which looks like the Food Court at a 1970s shopping mall, and Gigolo Joe, the Kubrick figure, is happily pointing out the sights—"Here's where I ply my sleazily robotic trade!"—which would be totally perverted if the sex talk weren't sailing right over the head of little RoboBoy, Steven, who's going, "My mommy told me to look for the Blue Fairy! I love my mommy!"

One Last Pathetic Lie from a Dying, Former Free Internet Service Provider

"AltaVista's free Web-based e-mail is the last of the portal-like services that the site offered, and, as many of you became aware of AltaVista's pure search focus, usage of the service has waned. As stated in our e-mail, the company will no longer support free e-mail after March 31st, 2002."

Translation: "As more and more of you saw flies hovering over our company..."

No, wait! I see what they mean. "As more and more of you realized how incredibly good the AltaVista search engine was getting, you guessed that email couldn't possibly be a priority for the company, so you began seeking out services for which you would have to pay." Right?

Or, maybe it means, "As our pure search focus improved, you began spending more time surfing the web and less time sending email..."

Hard to know which half-truth actually applies here. But hats off to the copywriter for such well-crafted BS.

timeline

the hardest part about a review is when you drank a wine for 5 years from $45 to $65 and tonight its $160, (even if its worth it), but the smart person over looks and dives smack into the 78 Sfursat for $45...another night at Manducatis, and a great night at that!!

another part of ratings is personal bias, i love Italy and Italian wine, last night we ate at Lupa for the first time in about a year!! (party of 4 completely blown away, they sent out these lightly batter fried squid covered in a hot pepper sause that was "to live" for, the Bavette, a new dish of Farro Spagetinni(sp?) with tuscan chick peas (cecci's) and Bottarga (tuna roe), sardines with citrus peel, a pasta special with duck and blood orange etc ragu, the date dessert!!!--WOW!!!!--brilliant food, fab flavors, very nice wine list, awesome prices......

The 2002 edition of the SF Chronicle's annual survery of the top 100 local restaurants is now on the web. Only seven are south of SF. The other 93 are in SF, Berkeley, Oakland, and points northward. Yet another disadvantage of living in the "South Bay".

how would i rate a restaurant??
innovative brilliant food, and unique texture and flavor are top, presentation is somewhat an issue but surrondings are not, wine either BYOB'd or off the list is important part unless beer goes better with the food, price value ratio is a final point....
thats why below Willi's beats out Veritas, the food is way better at Veritas but the 3 bottles of wine I drank at Willi's costing $190 inc tax and tip would cost $800 at Veritas, hence Willi's is better IMHO, and thats why GSIMidtown could be so high up, the food is brilliant and I can bring whatever level of wine I want, no charge....

I've been having a series of lunches for slackers. Whoever cooks typically does a multi-course meal from scratch. Dishes range from souffle to fried turkey.

My Mardi Gras week lunch featured pane'ed shrimp, tilapia and okra (with light coating of Cajun spiced breading) over roasted corn/lime salsa and brown rice with a splash of fish stock, and a dab of remoulade on the side. But the star was the dessert.

Dark Chocolate Bread Pudding

serves 15

• one loaf sweet french bread, stale, crust removed, cut into 3/4" cubes
• eight eggs
• one pint skim milk, one pint heavy cream
• 1 lb Scharffen Berger semi-sweet, chopped into chips
• 1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1/2 cup Gran Marnier
• 1/2 cup Irish whiskey
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp cocoa
• unsalted butter
  
  
• melt 1/3 of chocolate chips
• let milk, cream and eggs reach room temperature, let chocolate cool
• whisk melted chocolate into eggs until smooth
• whisk liquor, sugar, nutmeg, vanilla, cinnamon into mixture until smooth
• whisk milk and cream into egg mixture until smooth
• fold bread cubes into mixture, let stand for 30 minutes
  
  
• pour mixture into large deep pan, or several smaller deep tins (large pan yields custardy center with more cake-like exterior, smaller pans yield more consistent texture)
• while pouring mixture, add layers of the remaining chocolate chips
• sprinkle cocoa on top
  
  
• bake at 350 until set in the center, 50-60 minutes
• finish under broiler for 5 minutes, about 4" from hot broiler
  
  
• let cool for 5 minutes
  
  
• serve with vanilla ice cream, raspberry sorbet, whiskey, or whipped cream
  
  
• make note to self about increasing aerobics for a couple of days

warholizer

Welcome to the home of extreme ironing - the latest danger sport that combines the thrills of an extreme outdoor activity with the satisfaction of a well pressed shirt.

geek love

Valentine's Day Special
Through the magic of the internet, I've located my first crush, or at least a picture of her.
It's Sandy, from Butternut Square, a Canadian kiddie show I watched in the mornings when I was five years old. I was crazy about her, but then they packed me off to school and I never saw her again.
Sigh…

Country Outlaw Waylon Jennings is dead.

Anyone who cares about visual art knows that the Guggenheim is the worst major museum in town. A child's imitation of modern marketing, their Soho failure and Basque boondoggle only distract from the fact that they rarely mount a worthwhile show. The museum that had the first Ryman retrospective, where I first saw a Beuys show, has been reduced to a joke. Jerry Saltz in the Voice states the obvious.

Century 21 to reopen.
Now I can go back to just buying new clothes and quit doing laundry.

deposed monarch

can anyone help??

we need to have our art collection appraised for insurance reasons, i have been told that it needs to be on offical art appraiser letterhead...sound easy??... but i fear that while people may understand polke, richter, maybe palermo, dibenedetto but uglow, tantric paintings, old huichol, amaringo etc??, original acid test poster??

can anyone help??

blast off

running numbers

Never Mind Bono at the World Economic Forum in New York, Here's the Edge at "The Future of Theoretical Physics and Cosmology" in Cambridge (Jan. 11)

Real Life Rock science correspondent Steve Weinstein: "The Edge was seen chatting with astrophysicist Sir Martin Rees following Rees's talk at the recent 60th birthday party for Stephen Hawking at Cambridge University. Hawking is known as the Keith Richards of theoretical physicists, and indeed remarked to one bystander that despite his recent brush with death while speeding in his new wheelchair, he 'wasn't lookin too good but [he] was feelin' real well.'

"The Edge has recently been collaborating with Hawking on a bold new idea intended to make sense of the ill-defined Euclidean path integral that plays a central role in Hawking's 'no-boundary' proposal for the initial state of the universe. Later in the evening, the U2 guitarist was spotted with cosmologist Neil Turok in the VIP 'behind Hawking' area, with a rare view of the screen on which Hawking's communications appear. The Edge reportedly needled Turok for stealing U2's 'Unforgettable Fire'' title for his recent paper with Khoury, Ovurt and Steinhardt on what they call 'The Ekpyrotic ("out of fire") Universe.'

"The evening concluded with a song to Hawking written by general relativity expert Bernard Carr, and performed by Hawking's students and The Edge (vocals, not guitar). This was the high point of the evening to that moment, but it was eclipsed by the appearance of a Marilyn Monroe impersonator and then the Can-Can Dancers, six women in 'Moulin Rouge' costumes displaying what some characterized as 'a lot of leg.'"

from guest Brian T

Folklore has it that Valentine's Day is when birds start pairing up, so I though I'd mention that I saw Kestrel Falcons mating on an aerial in LIC on my way to work today.
Beats porno.

any one familiar with this cargo cult science speach ?

and this ?

RIP dave van ronk


van ronk was not known as a songwriter but he could cover the hell out of some one elses material + always with great gusto. I was always amazed by his version of "teddy bears picnic" from his songs for ageing children album.

back from the Loire and Paris and and one of the most fun and yum meals ever in France was at L'Astrance , some other places get high points some the wine lists are so good the ok food could be overlooked and a fab time was had....

but over all it was
#1 L'Astrance (Paris)
#2 Les Tonnelles (Behuard-Loire)
#3 Willi's Wine Bar (Paris)

*"WINE PROTECTS AGAINST DEMENTIA!" - NY TIMES
"Raising a Toast to the Brain's Health", Tuesday, Jan 5th. - By John O'Neil

According to a 6 year Dutch study,
"People who had consumed one to three drinks a day were half as likely to have developed dementia"
"The gap was even bigger when the researchers focused on vascular dementia, the deterioration of brain function linked to damage of the arteries that supply the brain with oxygen. Whatever it is about alcohol that reduces risk of stroke and heart disease is also helping the brain by improving the functioning of the circulatory system, the researchers speculated."