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« Becoming Creative 1: I'm So Boring | Main | Music Tips »

March 24, 2006

Elsewhere

Michael Blowhard writes:

Dear Blowhards --

* You hadn't heard of the Chinese city of Chongqing? Neither had I. Fun to learn that someplace so little known is so huge, as well as the fastest-growing city in the world. It's the unknown megalopolis. (Link thanks to New Economist.)

* There's Alway Something is discovering the fun of singing.

* 56Acrv reminds us of the inevitable cost of war.

* It's funny what some people choose to put on display of themselves. But thank heavens for that gotta-put-on-a-show impulse!

* Razib links to a BBC article revealing that at least 55% of British Pakistanis are married to first cousins. Razib himself leads a classic bull-session about atheism.

* ChelseaGirl has found that she learns a lot about a guy from the way he kisses.

* Did it all start to go wrong when Nixon unhooked the dollar from gold? Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr. thinks so.

* Michael Bierut is convinced that there's more to good design than just design.

* Visiting Eleusis, Rick Darby gets a mystical tingle from the Mysteries.

* Searchie takes her camera with her on some walks through Warsaw.

* Dept. of Great Moves: Virginia Postrel will soon be writing for The Atlantic. Tyler Cowen will be taking over her Times slot. Virginia excerpts her final Times column here. Not content to be a first-class cultural commentator, Virginia recently donated a kidney to the excellent Sally Satel.

* Lynn Harris and Chris Kalk have created "Breakup Girl," an online reminder of how fun popular magazines could once be. It's full of earthy advice, young-girl humor, and comic book style.

* Whites are becoming minorities in a number of English cities. Meanwhile, the English are buying up France.

* These are the girls that girls-who-prefer-girls prefer.

* John Emerson shares some worthwhile ideas about how to fix the study of literature.

* Derek Lowe ventures some down-to-earth and brave observations about women, men, and science.

* David Foster wonders if the parents of young adults are becoming too protective.

* One day, Waterfall sat down at a piano -- and something just clicked.

* Colleen does SXSW! She reviews some of the movies here, and a number of the panels here. I suspect that she's still in recovery.

* A new study suggests that American health care is mediocre, but is equally mediocre for patients of all races.

* Union member Mike Hill thinks that the times they have a-changed for unions.

* Tosy and Cosh reviews his magazine-reading habits.

* Yahmdallah says that John Irving has done better.

* As far as Larry Gross is concerned, "V for Vendetta" makes "Brokeback Mountain" look like "Red Dawn." (Link thanks to Anne Thompson.)

Best,

Michael

posted by Michael at March 24, 2006




Comments

Sigh. Must be Brits are as history-oblivious as Yanks. "Chongqing" is better-known (to a few of us, anyway) as Chungking. From the late 1930s through the Second Wold War it was the capital of China, the seat of government for Chiang Kai-Shek's Nationalist regime.

Posted by: Donald Pittenger on March 24, 2006 03:23 PM



Just passing through, I'm digging the blog by the way.

Posted by: HumanityCritic on March 24, 2006 03:50 PM



Thank you, Michael.

Kissykiss to you too.

Posted by: chelsea girl on March 24, 2006 04:17 PM



I am 90% recovered, thank you, and feel certain that a full recovery is imminent: I finally have the urge to go out and see a movie!

Thanks, too, for reminding me of why I so love Design Observer. Damn, that's good eatin'!

Posted by: communicatrix on March 24, 2006 04:48 PM



Wasn't there some kind of faux Chinese noodle product named Chungking?

Posted by: harv on March 24, 2006 08:17 PM



Nice pictures from Warsaw.

Posted by: Peter on March 24, 2006 10:09 PM



Speaking of Chinese cities, what was wrong with writing Peking and Mao Tse-Tung? I hate having to spell them Beijing and Mao Zedong. Ditto with this Mumbai B.S. for Bombay. Even Hindu was once written Hindoo and tipis were teepees. Muslims were Moslems.
I'm afraid I belong to the era which used an apostrophe before "phone" and "cello"...and a circumflex over the word "role."

Posted by: winifer skattebol on March 24, 2006 11:03 PM



M(Searchie), what's considered russkie perogie in Warsaw? Are they with cottage cheese and cherries filling? Potatoes and onions? Mushrooms and parsley?

Great Design Observer'post, I agree.

Posted by: Tat on March 24, 2006 11:33 PM



Haven't seen "V" and won't, because I won't spend 10 bucks and 2 hours to sit through a leftist indoctrination spiel.

This "everybody turning gay will save the world" theme, I've got to say, it so damned stupid, childish and facile that you'd think that left would be embarassed by it.

It's really a crock. Why continue to waste time on this thumb sucking idiocy?

Posted by: Shouting Thomas on March 25, 2006 07:41 AM



Yes! I have heard of Chongqing. It's in the title of one of my favorite movies, Chungking Express. Not that the city has anything to do with it; it's just the name of a restaurant.

Posted by: L on March 25, 2006 11:04 AM




Re: the career move of Virginia Postel

Not being in the media, I've wondered about the rationale for such moves (e.g., from the "Times" to some other publication).

Does someone like Virginia Postel (whom I like a lot) move on because her new spot pays more; because it's more secure; because it's a better forum for the kinds of things she writes; because it offers her more opportunities to write about the subjects that most interest her; because it's less of a grind and offers more free time for other pursuits; because of changes in her personal life (a decision to move to a different region or country); and so on?

Other examples of similar moves that interested me were Paul Goldberger's move, first from the architecture spot to critic at large, and then from the "Times" to the "New Yorker," and Ada Louise Huxtable's move from the architecture spot to the editorial board to, eventually, the Wall St. Journal.

In my mind, when someone "achieves" the "Times," that's kind of the end of the line, the lifetime spot -- the spot with the biggest and best audience. So I'm somewhat surprised (and curious) when someone decides to move on.

While I understand the "New Yorker" is very prestigious (and probably offered Goldberger more money, more flexibility and more free time) it seemed to me that he "fell off the map" when he went there. It seems like "everybody" used to talk about Goldberger, but now hardly anyone ever does anymore. And they talk about his successors instead.

It seems the "New Yorker" spot also gives him the free time to be Dean of the School of Architecture at the New School. So maybe something like this was in the back of his mind when he chose to move on?

I've also been curious when a favorite writer "disappears." John Tierney, I realized moved to the Washington bureau (as a result of poisinous office politics?) and then back to the home office. But I never found out what happened to one of my favorites, TV critic, John O'Connor. (I think that was his name.)

Also, one of the real estate writers, Carter Horsley now does a blog. (I wonder how he supports himself? Maybe he's semi-retired? But I don't think he's that old.) And a long time ago, another favorite real estate (?) writer "disappeared," although I still see his name pop up here and there. (Of course, the name escapes me now, but I think he did the photos for one of Goldberger's books -- although professionally he is a writer and not a photographer.)

Posted by: Benjamin Hemric on March 25, 2006 08:35 PM



Tat: The Warsaw version of "Ruskie" contains cheese (I like farmer), potatoes and onions, topped with more finely chopped caramelized onion bits. The cherry version of your "Russkie" sounds quite good, though. I might have to check that out.

Posted by: Searchie on March 26, 2006 12:04 PM



Serchie: that's what I thought. Damn foreighners screwed it up again!
These are all distinct combinations, consisting of a) filler and b) taste enhancer.
Farmer (or cottage) cheese is a filler, same as mashed potatoes. For a filling you don't combine 2 fillers; you do either farmer cheese+herbs (favorite Polish thing, and I love it), or farmer cheese+paprika, or farmer cheese+fruit (cherries or raisins, etc. OR you do potatoes+caramelized onions, potatoes+mushrooms, potatoes+green scallions-and bell peppers etc.

Huh, sorry everyone for the way-too-OT; I'm on a cooking streak today.

Posted by: Tat on March 26, 2006 01:53 PM



Did a double-take there as I scanned through the list to see what might be of interest. Thanks!

Posted by: Tosy and Cosh on March 27, 2006 02:43 PM






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