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A blog by someone who doesn't like or understand blogs.
A major theme of this blog is the love affair between the blogger and the city of New York.
Email me at david [at] danzig [dot] com.
Bloggers with whom I am personally acquainted, in real life, in alphebetical order by first name:
Caren L.
Dav C.
David D.
Eva J.
Jessica D.
Joclyn G.
Lauren P.
Sean S.
Steph T.
If you know me in person, and I forgot to put you here, definitely, please email me, and also please accept my apology!
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Friday, January 31, 2003
REVIEW OF REVIEWS.
External link:
Here's a list of all my reviews to date. Click on the name of the thing reviewed to link to the review itself.
NEW YORK CITY RESTAURANTS:
HUDSON HOTEL * * * 1/2 (3 and a half stars out of 4).
REPUBLIC * * * (3 stars out of 4).
SUSHISAMBA * * * 1/2 (3 and a half stars out of 4).
BANGKOK * * 1/2 (2 and a half stars out of 4).
UNCLE NICKS * * * 1/2 (3 and a half stars out of 4).
MAX * * * (3 stars out of 4).
MAXIE'S DELI * * * (3 stars out of 4).
The Carnegie Deli (North Times Square). * * * * (4 stars out of 4).
Katz's Deli (Lower East Side). * * * 1/2 (3 and a half stars).
Ben's Deli (South Times Square). * * * 1/2 (3 and a half stars).
The Roxy Deli (Central Times Square). * * * (3 stars).
Maxie's Deli (Central Times Square). * * * (3 stars).
The 2nd Avenue Deli (East Village). * * 1/2 (2 and a half stars).
CHURRASCARIA PLATAFORMA * * * * (4 stars out of 4).
MEXICANA MAMMA * * * 1/2 (3 and a half stars out of 4).
AL'S SOUP KITCHEN INTERNATIONAL * * * * (4 stars out of 4).
JOHN'S PIZZA * * * (3 stars out of 4).
NONG * * * 1/2 (3 and a half stars out of 4).
PIPA * * * 1/2 (3 and a half stars out of 4).
CRAFT * * * 1/2 (3 and a half stars out of 4).
AUREOLE * * * 1/2 (3 1/2 stars out of 4).
THEATER:
A.S.S.S.S.C.A.T. * * * * (4 stars out of 4).
THE SUN RISES IN THE EAST * 1/2 (1 and a half stars out of 4).
THE GRADUATE * * * (3 stars out of 4).
A NIGHT OF SHITTY THEATRE * * * 1/2 (3 and a half stars out of 4).
MR. SHOW LIVE-- HOORAY FOR AMERICA TOUR * * * * (4 stars out of 4).
THE EXONERATED * * 1/2 (2 and a half stars out of 4).
THE MERCY SEAT * (1 star out of 4).
DEBBIE DOES DALLAS * * * (3 stars out of 4).
MOVIES:
DOLORES CLAIBORNE * 1/2 (1 and a half stars out of 4).
NOVOCAINE * 1/2 (1 and a half stars out of 4).
LITTLE NICKY 1/2 (half a star out of 4).
RONIN * * 1/2 (2 and a half stars out of 4).
THE GOOD GIRL (2002) * * * * (4 stars out of 4).
SIGNS (2002) * 1/2 (1 and a half stars out of 4).
LATHE OF HEAVAN (2002) * (1 star out of 4).
TADPOLE (2002) * * * (3 stars out of 4).
THE TRIALS OF HENRY KISSINGER (2002) * 1/2 (1 and a half stars out of 4).
BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE (2002) * * * 1/2 (3 1/2 stars out of 4).
RED DRAGON (2002) * * 1/2 (2 and a half stars out of 4).
DIE ANOTHER DAY * (1 star out of 4).
STAR TREK NEMESIS (2002) * 1/2 (1 and a half stars out of 4).
HABLE CON ELLA (TALK TO HER) (2002) * * * (3 stars out of 4).
ADAPTATION (2002) * * * 1/2 (3 and a half stars out of 4).
CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND (2002) * * * (3 stars out of 4).
25TH HOUR (2002) * * * (3 stars out of 4).
BOOKS:
THE NEXT FIFTY YEARS: SCIENCE IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY * * (2 stars, out of 4).
THE TEMPTING OF AMERICA * * * (3 stars out of 4).
RICH DAD, POOR DAD * * (2 stars out of 4).
FROM BAUHAUS TO OUR HOUSE * * 1/2 (2 and one half stars out of 4).
OGILVY ON ADVERTISING * * * 1/2 (3 and a half stars out of 4).
EVERYTHING AND A KITE * * * (3 stars out of 4).
THE PAINTED WORD * * 1/2 (2 and a half stars out of 4).
A TRIAL BY JURY * * * 1/2 (3 and a half stars out of 4).
HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS * * (2 stars out of 4).
THE GUYS * * (2 stars out of 4).
SLANDER: LIBERAL LIES ABOUT THE AMERICAN RIGHT (2002) no stars (0 stars out of 4).
THE NATURAL * * * 1/2 (3 and a half stars out of 4).
THE BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES (1987) * * * (3 stars out of 4).
FORTY-TWO STORIES * 1/2 (1 and a half stars out of 4).
THE CODE OF THE WOOSTERS * * (2 stars out of 4).
E=MC˛: A BIOGRAPHY OF THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS EQUATION (2001) * * * (3 stars out of 4).
THE MIND'S SKY: HUMAN INTELLIGENCE IN A COSMIC CONTEXT (1992) * * (2 stars out of 4).
TRUER THAN TRUE ROMANCE: CLASSIC LOVE COMICS RETOLD! (2001) * * * (3 stars out of 4).
LIVE FROM NEW YORK: AN UNCENSORED HISTORY OF SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE (2002) * * (2 stars out of 4).
THE SCIENCE OF SUPERHEROES * 1/2 (1 and a half stars out of 4).
BUSH AT WAR (2002) * * * (3 stars out of 4).
NO WAY TO TREAT A FIRST LADY * * 1/2 (2 and a half stars out of 4).
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/review-of-reviews.html
Check for older comments: Archived comments on item #90261619
NYC RESTAURANT REVIEW: AUREOLE * * * 1/2 (3 1/2 stars out of 4).
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I went to Aureole today with Bryan C. for Restaurant Week. The food there was truly extraordinary, and good enough to warrant four stars. And the setting and service was elegant and flawless. And, actually, that's my only complaint about the place, is that I constantly felt like I was being judged by all these fancy waiters if I wasn't using the right fork or pronounced some French word with an American accent. So, if you're into that kind of place, then, definitely, it's four stars. But I've been to places just as fancy, where I felt much more comfortable and at home, and not like I was at a state dinner. But it's definitely worth putting up with all that stuffiness for the fabulous food.
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/nyc-restaurant-review-aureole-12-3-12.html
Check for older comments: Archived comments on item #90261452
NYC RESTAURANT REVIEW: CRAFT * * * 1/2 (3 and a half stars out of 4).
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Bryan C. and I had lunch at Craft as part of Restaurant Week, when some of the city's top restaurants have prix-fixe three-course lunches for $20.03 (for the year 2003). If you missed it, there's another one in June. Craft was really great, with delicious, creative American dishes, served in an elegant but modern setting. It's just Northeast of Union Square at 43 E. 19th ST.
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/nyc-restaurant-review-craft-12-3-and.html
Check for older comments: Archived comments on item #90261424
I'M SPOILED ROTTEN.
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My TV is being repaired, and so is unusable for the next two weeks. It was a rear-projection wide screen Panasonic. So, I've had to hook up my old TV that I used to have before this one, and which I kept in my game room. My old TV is a perfectly nice 27 inch Samsung, which I was very happy with for many years, and which I was very excited to get, years ago, when it replaced my previous TV which was 25 inches. But you just can't go backwards like that, I am finding. I feel like I'm watching a six-inch black-and-white kitchen TV.
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/im-spoiled-rotten.html
Check for older comments: Archived comments on item #90259497
Thursday, January 30, 2003
PICTURE THIS.
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Here's a recent picture of me and Jill Z, my girlfriend. She lives in Florida, and I live in New York. We've been going out since the middle of December, though much of that time has been spent apart.
[PHOTO NO LONGER AVAILABLE]
As you can see, she's about a foot and a half taller than I am. Just kidding-- she's sitting on my lap, and I am a towering 5' 11". She works for American Express, resolving disputes between American merchants and non-American cardholders.
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/picture-this.html
Check for older comments: Archived comments on item #90256453
Wednesday, January 29, 2003
MOVIE REVIEW: 25TH HOUR (2002) * * * (3 stars out of 4).
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25th Hour is the touching story of a man (Edward Norton) who has been sentence to prison for seven years, and has one last day to spend with his friends. It's touching and real and engaging and sometimes funny.
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/movie-review-25th-hour-2002-3-stars.html
Check for older comments: Archived comments on item #90249913
MOVIE REVIEW: CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND (2002) * * * (3 stars out of 4).
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This movie was fun, funny, and strange. It's written by Charlie Kaufman, who also wrote Adaptation and Being John Malkovich. This movie, about Chuck Barris, host of the Gong Show, who claimed to be an undercover agent for the CIA, is a lot more straightforward, but still has a little of the same strange, surreal style.
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/movie-review-confessions-of-dangerous.html
Check for older comments: Archived comments on item #90249899
Tuesday, January 28, 2003
I'M BACK!
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I'm back in New York!
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/im-back.html
Check for older comments: Archived comments on item #90248231
Friday, January 24, 2003
I'M IN FLORIDA.
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I flew to Florida on Tuesday to visit my girlfriend, Jill Z. She turned 30 yesterday (Thursday). On her birthday, I took her to see Tick, Tick, Boom, a musical by Jonathan Larson, the creator of Rent. By chance, the major theme of the play is the main character's struggle to accomplish something worthwhile in the last two weeks before his 30th birthday. The opening musical number goes on and on about how horrible it is to be turning 30. So it was eerily appropriate for the evening.
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/im-in-florida.html
Check for older comments: Archived comments on item #90230820
Monday, January 20, 2003
THE THIRD WEEKEND IN JANUARY.
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I just had a busy, busy weekend. Thursday afternoon, Bryan C. came over and fixed my computer, and then we went to see Believe Chicken, a stand-up comedy show hosted by my friend Jessica D.. Then we had dinner at Pipa. Friday, I actually did some work during the day, and then I hung out with my ex-girlfriend, Jill R. We had dinner at the Celebrity Deli, and then had a meeting of the "Hell's Kitchen Salon", which consists of buying a script to a play, and then dividing up the parts and reading them out loud together. We read "God" by Woody Allen, which was okay, but definitely not his best work. Saturday afternoon I went with Dara E. to the Museum of Television and Radio, but the library was closed, because they were having computer problems. So we bought the Trivial Pursuit 20th Anniversary edition instead, and I trounced her. Then I saw Adaptation with Jin K. Sunday, I went to Brooklyn to visit my cousin Mike R., his wife Stephanie, and their two-year-old twins, Nicolas and Sabrina.
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/third-weekend-in-january.html
Check for older comments: Archived comments on item #90211679
NYC RESTAURANT REVIEW: PIPA * * * 1/2 (3 and a half stars out of 4).
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This Union Square tapas place is very pricey, but it's actually worth the $9 to $15 per item, even though you'll need to order two or three per person to share. The endives with bacon-wrapped dates were incredible, and shrimp and cheese filled peppers were scrumptious.
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/nyc-restaurant-review-pipa-12-3-and.html
Check for older comments: Archived comments on item #90211624
LAST CALL.
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I went to a taping of Last Call with Carson Daly this evening. I'm not a huge fan of the show, but the guest was Horatio Sanz, who was hysterical, and the show is taped in Studio 8-H of 30 Rockefeller Center, which is the studio where Saturday Night Live is broadcast. So, it was pretty neat. Thanks, Ludmilla M.!
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/last-call.html
Check for older comments: Archived comments on item #90211595
MOVIE REVIEW: ADAPTATION (2002) * * * 1/2 (3 and a half stars out of 4).
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I loved this movie. It's by Charlie Kaufman, the writer of Being John Malkovich, and it's about his struggle to write an adaptation of the book, The Orchid Thief (which I'm currently reading). At the same time he's plagued by resentment and jealousy of his identical twin brother Donald who also wants to be a screenwriter, and is a hack writing a formulaic action movie. it's a really great movie that I'm still trying to make sense of in my head, and which is really, really worth seeing.
I'M GOING TO GIVE AWAY SOME OF THE PLOT OF THE MOVIE NOW, SO STOP READING IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT AND YOU PLAN TO.
Apparently, and according to Roger Ebert, there isn't really any such person as Donald Kaufman, even though he shares a writing credit for the movie. What's most interesting to me is this. All along, Charlie says he wants to make a movie with integrity. There's no love story, there's no car chases, there's no mystery. It's just about being disappointed, and not growing or learning or changing, because that's what real life is like. But right after he asks his hacky "twin" to help him, suddenly the movie turns into a thriller. The twins go to New York to spy on Susan Orlean, the writer of "The Orchid Thief". They follow her to Florida where she has an affair with the subject of her book. There's a car chase, a gun fight, and a few terrifying killings, and, suddenly, it really, really works as a thriller. And when Donald is gone, we sort of see that he was really a part of Charlie all along, exactly the way the characters in Donald's screenplay "the 3" are really all just aspects of the same person. It really works on a lot of different levels, including the surface level.
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/movie-review-adaptation-2002-12-3-and.html
Check for older comments: Archived comments on item #90207383
Sunday, January 19, 2003
BOOK REVIEW: NO WAY TO TREAT A FIRST LADY * * 1/2 (2 and a half stars out of 4).
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I love Christopher Buckley, but his latest novel is definitely not his best. It attempts to satirize both Bill Clinton's infidelity and the O. J. Simpson trial by combining both into the ultimate "trial of the millenium," in which the first lady is on trial for murdering the President. The result, though, is a bit muddled, both in terms of plot and in terms of the satiric message, and the book's serious tone makes fun of itself more than it does its intended victims.
Much better are Christopher Buckley's masterpieces Wry Martinis (a book of his hilarious columns from the New Yorker) and Thank You for Smoking, a brilliant satire of the marketing of cigarettes, alcohol, and firearms. God is my Broker: A Monk-Tycoon Reveals the 7 1/2 Laws of Spiritual and Financial Growth, about the mixing of big religion and big business, is not too bad at all.
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/book-review-no-way-to-treat-first-lady.html
Check for older comments: Archived comments on item #90207325
BOOK REVIEW: WHEN YOU RIDE ALONE, YOU RIDE WITH BIN LADEN * * 1/2 (2 and a half stars out of 4).
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Bill Maher's newest book, When You Ride Alone You Ride with Bin Laden: What the Government Should Be Telling Us to Help Fight the War on Terrorism, is mostly trite, and not very funny. It talks only briefly and superficially about Maher's brush with censorship shortly after 9/11, when he said that we shouldn't call the 9/11 attackers cowardly, because lobbing a cruise missile into Afghanistan is cowardly, but staying in the plane when it hits the building is, whatever else you want to call it, not cowardly. Bill Maher does make one very excellent point, however. He criticizes the commercial which memorably premiered during last year's Superbowl that suggested that buying marijuana was sending money to terrorists. That connection is very tenuous, at best. But when you drive your car on frivolous trips, the money you spend on gasoline is going directly to governments in the Middle East that support terrorism.
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/book-review-when-you-ride-alone-you.html
Check for older comments: Archived comments on item #90207292
Saturday, January 18, 2003
WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD.
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When I first listed myself on geoURL, my furthest neighbor on my neighbor screen was 187 miles away. Now, there's only room for neighbors within 57 miles. It takes exponential growth to keep that number shrinking at a constant rate, since the area covered is directly proportional to the square of that radius. Despite this, that number actually seems to be shrinking faster and faster. The geoURL's "meatspace" is still small, but it's growing quickly. It's cool how there are very few commercial establishments there. It's just like the Web was at the beginning, before the big commercial interests took over. Oh, that reminds me-- I should register my commercial establishment.
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/welcome-to-neighborhood.html
Check for older comments: Archived comments on item #90203538
Thursday, January 16, 2003
SO, HOW MUCH FOR A CHEESEBURGER?
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Welcome to New York, home of the $50 hamburger.
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/so-how-much-for-cheeseburger.html
Check for older comments: Archived comments on item #90195263
Wednesday, January 15, 2003
BLACKPEOPLELOVEUS.COM.
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You've got to check out blackpeopleloveus.com! It is so funny! It was made by my friend Jessica D.'s friend Chelsea.
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/blackpeopleloveuscom.html
Check for older comments: Archived comments on item #90189072
Tuesday, January 14, 2003
NEW FORMULA, SAME GREAT CONVERSION.
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If you're like me, you find the formula of F = 9/5 C + 32 for converting Fahrenheit (F) temperatures to Celsius (C), to be totally unworkable. Even if I could remember that formula, I can't multiply a 2 digit number by 9 in my head, and then divide that three digit number by 5 in my head. Unless you've got some time to kill, and a calculator or a pen and paper, that formula is good for nothing.
So I've come up with a much better formula for converting Celsius into Fahrenheit that is easier to remember, and which most people can do quickly in their heads. It goes like this.
Take the Celsius temperature and double it. Add 30. Now, if you stopped right there, you'd have a pretty decent estimation, which would never be wrong by more than 5 degrees for Fahrenheit temperatures between 0 and 100, and is more accurate the closer it is to 50. Let's call this number "E" for estimate. Now to get the Fahrenheit temperature exactly, for 10 degrees difference between E and 50, get 1 degree closer to 50.
That's it. Double the Celsius temperature, add 30, and get 1 degree closer to 50 for every ten degrees from 50 you are.
Let's try some numbers to see how this works.
Take zero degrees Celsius. Doubling it is still zero. Adding 30 makes 30. Now you're 20 degrees below 50, so add one tenth of 20, which is 2. That's 32 degrees Fahrenheit, which everyone know is the same as zero Celsius. Note that just doubling it and adding 30 was a pretty good estimation.
Here's another. Take 22 degrees Celsius. Doubling it makes 44. Adding 30 makes 74. That's 24 degrees above 50, so subtract 2.4, leaving 71.6 degrees Fahrenheit, exactly. Note that 74 was a pretty good estimate. This is as hard as these get, folks, and I still bet you could've done that one in your head.
A couple more. Take 10 degrees Celsius. Doubling it makes 20. Adding 30 makes 50. That's exactly 50, so there's nothing to add or subtract.
Last one. Take -12 degrees Celsius (that's MINUS 12). Doubling it is -24. Adding 30 makes 6. That's 44 degrees from 50, so add 4.4, making 10.4 degrees Fahrenheit, exactly.
Let's compare some of these with what you would have had to do with the old formula. Let's take one of the harder ones from above, 22 degrees Celsius. For the first time in this essay, I've got to whip out a calculator. 22 times 9 is 198. 198 divided by 5 is 39.6. 39.6 + 32 is 71.6. Can you do that in your head? I guess I could if I sat here long enough. Let's take the other tricky one: -12 degrees Celsius. -12 * 9 = 108. 108 / 5 = -21.6. -21.6 + 32 = 10.4.
Yes, the comparison is clear: my formula is much, much better than the formula people have been using for hundreds of years. It's the difference between doing third grade math and doing sixth grade math. Which would you rather do?
You want proof? Here's proof.
Here's my formula. Note that "+ ( ( (50 - (2C+30) ) / 10)" is a fancy way of saying "for every 10 degrees you are from 50, get one degree closer."
F = 2C + 30 + ( ( (50 - (2C+30) ) / 10)
Adding the 50 and the 30 in the numerator yields:
F = 2C + 30 + ( (20 - 2C) / 10)
Dividing by 10 yields
F = 2C + 30 + 2 - 1/5 C
And adding that all up yields
F = 9/5 C + 32, which is the old, stupid formula.
But forget all that. From now on, just double the Celsius, add 30, and then get 1 degree closer to 50 for every 10 degrees you are away.
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/new-formula-same-great-conversion.html
Check for older comments: Archived comments on item #90184528
SHUT UP.
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The links to my comments were sporadically down yesterday and last night. No comments have been lost, though! Enetation.co.uk, the provider of my comment software, has this to say:
"We are experiencing very high server loads at peak times during the day which may prevent some comment links from appearing. Thanks to very generous donations over December we are in a position to add two servers this weekend to the existing cluster which should minimise any risk of system overload. (We were expecting the new servers added in November to be good for 6 months, but due to the fantastic growth in users it looks like we've managed 6 weeks!) Please keep donating!"
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/shut-up.html
Check for older comments: Archived comments on item #90183383
YOU'RE INVITED.
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Who: You, Your Friends, Lovers and Confidantes
When: February 7, 2003, 6:00pm EST
Where: Zanzibar, 645 9th Avenue (at 45th Street)
Why: Because we all need make some new friends in this cool, cool town ... and an excuse to maybe casually bump into the blog-crush of your choice.
RSVP to Jane at nerve_wracking@hotmail.com.
I'll be there.
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/youre-invited.html
Check for older comments: Archived comments on item #90181346
Monday, January 13, 2003
I GOT A NEW CELL PHONE.
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I finally bought a new cell phone. I got the LG 5350, and continued my Sprint membership. I'd had an old Motorola phone. I absolutely love my new phone. It's got a full graphics color display that fits nine lines of text. My last phone had a four line, black and white (grey and green, actually), text-only display. My new phone can go to practically any Web site-- not just Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) enabled sites. My old phone only went to WAP sites. My new phone is about two-thirds the size and about half the weight (3.8 ounces) of my old phone. And my new phone has all kinds of features that I'd always hoped for, and some that I'd never even thought of. For example, I always wished my phone had a calculator. It's not a big thing, but it seems like such an easy thing to add on to a phone, since you've already got the math processor and the keypad and everything. This one also has a scheduler, dozens of downloadable games and ringers, customizable ringers for each caller in your address book, voice-activated calling, and a voice recorder to take spoken notes. It has a program that uses a dictionary to figure out what word you are typing, using only one keystroke per digit (e.g., it knows that 232889 is "BEAUTY" and not "ADCTVX"). It lets you start recording a phone conversation while you're talking (the other party hears a warning beep). It has an "airplane mode" that turns off the phone part, so you can still play games or look at your scheduler or whatever while you're on a plane. It has a standby mode that puts the other party on the outside speaker (the one that rings when someone calls) so you can put the phone down while you're on hold. It lets you program a custom button to be a one button shortcut to any feature you want (I picked the calculator). And it has more features that I'm forgetting. At only $150, it seems like a real bargain to me, considering how much it's improved my life, how much I use it, and how long I'll probably keep it. I only wish I'd gotten it sooner.
Thanks, Greg D. for helping me pick it out.
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/i-got-new-cell-phone.html
Check for older comments: Archived comments on item #90180805
NYC RESTAURANT REVIEW: NONG * * * 1/2 (3 and a half stars out of 4).
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This pan-asian restaurant on Park Avenue South at 18th Street has something for everyone. The food is delicately spiced and fresh and delicious. I did find it to be more than a little overpriced, with lunch entrees ranging from $12 for a salad to $19 for a steak.
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/nyc-restaurant-review-nong-12-3-and.html
Check for older comments: Archived comments on item #90180719
Sunday, January 12, 2003
I STRAIN, YOU STRAIN, WE ALL STRAIN FOR EYE-STRAIN.
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Thanks to Sean S. for his selfless assistance in making the little round corner thingie graphic into a new color for me, and for giving me some tips on helping people avoid eye-strain.
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/i-strain-you-strain-we-all-strain-for.html
Check for older comments: Archived comments on item #90175210
Saturday, January 11, 2003
I LIVE AT THE CENTER OF EVERYTHING.
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As I mentioned, The geoURL server is my second nearest neighbor, according to the geoURL server. It's about a four minute walk to the south.
Well, my sixth nearest neighbor, about a mile north of me on the Upper West side, is Dan Egnor, the winner of the 2002 Google programming contest, for his geocoder, a method of searching the Web by geographic location.
A coincidence? No. I really do live at the center of everything. As I write this, I am sitting two blocks north of times square, and three blocks south of the geographic center of Manhattan. A north-south block in New York is about 1/20th of a mile, or about a one minute walk at a normal walking pace.
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/i-live-at-center-of-everything.html
Check for older comments: Archived comments on item #90172230
COLOUR MY WORLD.
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For the first time, I saw another blog that used my same template, and it totally creeped me out. So, I messed around with the colors a little. Here's an example of what it used to look like. As you can see, the changes are pretty subtle. Unfortunately, there is a little graphic where that round edge is between the blue corner and the light beige background, and I'm totally clueless how to mess with that. So, I left the corner and the main background the same.
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/colour-my-world.html
Check for older comments: Archived comments on item #90171732
MOVIE REVIEW: HABLE CON ELLA (TALK TO HER) (2002) * * * (3 stars out of 4).
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This movie, about two women trapped in hopeless comas and the men who love them, was good and smart and hauntingly funny. But I didn't think it quite lived up to the incredible reviews it's gotten.
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/movie-review-hable-con-ella-talk-to.html
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Friday, January 10, 2003
COMMENTS, ANYONE?
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I just added a commenting feature to my blog. It is powered by enetation.co.uk, a free service.
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/comments-anyone.html
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GEOURL.
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Here's another way to surf the Web-- by geographic location! Thanks, Dav, for the tip.
Take a look at some of my nearby neighbors by clicking this button:
Interestingly, and presumably by coincidence, my second nearest neighbor is the GeoURL Server.
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/geourl.html
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Wednesday, January 08, 2003
MORE NOTICE FOR MY REVIEW OF SLANDER.
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I found yet another link on the Internet to my review of the horrible book, Slander.
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/more-notice-for-my-review-of-slander.html
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RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY?
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Here in New York City, It has rained every day this year so far. And there's supposed to be freezing drizzle early tomorrow morning, and snow flurries on Friday. Also, it rained on December 30 and 31, last year!
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/rain-rain-go-away.html
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THEATER REVIEW: DEBBIE DOES DALLAS * * * (3 stars out of 4).
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I really wanted to give this new hit Off-Broadway musical 2 and 3/4 stars, but I decided a long time ago not to give out quarter stars. Anyway, I can certainly see why this campy, sexually provocative play is so popular, but I had trouble seeing why it is such a critical success. The story, of a high school student who has been accepted to be a cheerleader for the Dallas Cowboys and forms a company with her cheerleader friends to raise money for her travel, is pretty faithful to the original movie, with a few clever and ironic twists thrown in. But aside from being silly, and maybe 30 seconds of exposition about how we all make too many compromises in life, there isn't much to it, except for a lot of pretty actresses bouncing around on stage in cheerleader costumes. But, then, hey, that's something, right? So, it was good, but didn't meet my high expectations, after I'd heard such good reviews for the play. Also, the music was okay, but I was disappointed that none of the original music from the movie was used, as I think some of it is quite catchy.
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/theater-review-debbie-does-dallas-3.html
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Monday, January 06, 2003
THEATER REVIEW: THE MERCY SEAT * (1 star out of 4).
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This new play, starring Sigourney Weaver and Liev Schreiber takes place in downtown Manhattan on September 12, 2001. Unfortunately, it's a very mediocre play, with very un-clever and unrealistic dialogue, that would never have been produced, if it weren't for this little gimmick being shoe-horned in about the World Trade Center attack. Basically, here's what's wrong with this play: 1) the two characters are so absurdly and unsympathetically self-absorbed and cruel to each other that they are thoroughly unlikable, and their relationship together seems absurd. 2) On 9/12/01, not one person in the country, much less downtown New York (where I lived at the time), was talking about anything at all except the 9/11 attacks. If someone had another comment about something else, it would slip by in passing, in between long conversations about the events of the day before. However, in this play, the situation is reversed, and they barely mention the World Trade Center, even though they can see it smolder from their window. I guess it's a testament to how far we've come, that we're so willing to put up with this trivialization and exploitation of the events of 9/11.
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/theater-review-mercy-seat-1-star-out.html
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Saturday, January 04, 2003
NYC RESTAURANT REVIEW: JOHN'S PIZZA * * * (3 stars out of 4).
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I ate at the 44th street John's last night with Manny F. his cousin Helen and some of her friends, and I've previously eaten at their Bleecker street location. While it is very good pizza, and is better than the best pizza in your town (if you don't live here in New York), it is, in my opinion, too often suggested that this might be the best pizza in the city, which it definitely isn't. I'm not sure if I'd put it on my top ten.
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/nyc-restaurant-review-johns-pizza-3.html
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MOVIE REVIEW: STAR TREK NEMESIS (2002) * 1/2 (1 and a half stars out of 4).
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The tenth Star Trek movie, definitely defies the superstition that the even numbered films are the good ones. While the film benefited from my diminished expectations, after seeing some terrible reviews, it still was managed to disappoint. Here's the thing: if they would just have taken the most minor, common sense precautions, that anybody would, of course, take when dealing with unknown, alien races and artifacts, then, well, there simply wouldn't have been any movie. So it was particularly distressing to see the bad guy bragging that Picard fell into his irresistible trap, when the trap only works at all if you assume that Picard and Data will be absurdly careless and reckless, which they are. Also, the ending doesn't really sit very well with me.
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/movie-review-star-trek-nemesis-2002-12.html
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BOOK REVIEW: BUSH AT WAR (2002) * * * (3 stars out of 4).
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Bob Woodward's latest was good, but a little dry compared to his recent books about Clinton and the Supreme Court. I was impressed with how much decisive leadership Bush seemed to display, according to the book. I always picture him as bossed around by his advisors, and I always think of his supporters' harping on that scene of him spontaneously addressing the rescue workers at the World Trade Center site as damning with faint praise. But it sounds like he had a real vision for the way in which America should respond to the terrorist attacks, and that that vision has guided a lot of what's happened since 9/11/01.
Here's the thing about Woodward's books. They always seem to revolve around one leak. He never tells you which person is the leak, and, ostensibly, it's a secret. But the thing is, there's always one guy who's in every scene, and whose innermost thoughts and feelings Woodward professes to know. So, for example, in The Agenda, George Stephanopolis is always the one person who's at every meeting. Years later, Stephanopolis "admitted" to being Woodward's source, which is one of the reasons he left the White House. In Bush at War, the guy in every scene is Colin Powell. I suspect that he spoke very freely to Woodward in making this book.
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/book-review-bush-at-war-2002-3-stars.html
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Thursday, January 02, 2003
SHAH!
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Let's open the David's Journal mailbag.
----->
Date: Thu, 2 Jan 2003 00:44:26 -0600 (CST)
From: Sean S.
To: Dave D.
Subject: shah!
you dork! after all that you don't tell people the mechanics of how to
make a fortune-telling thing. shah!
at least link to a site that tells you
<-----
Enjoy.
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/shah.html
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Wednesday, January 01, 2003
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
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I watched the ball drop in Times Square from my balcony last night, about half a mile away. I invited over Jin K. and Alan B., because any more people wouldn't have been able to get a good view from there. Then we crashed another party in the building that we saw on another balcony. I don't remember that much because I had way too much to drink.
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/01/happy-new-year.html
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