8 oz. USDA Prime Beef With Brie de Meaux, Grilled Porcini & Shaved Summer Truffles

Last night kicked off this year’s Summerlicious fun. For the third time in as many years we went to Bymark, accompanied by T-Bone and #4 (as I believe he’s known). Let’s face it, we were there solely for the burger; it was as good this time as it had been in years past (I didn’t miss the foie gras). It normally costs $37, so you’d expect it to kick ass…and it does. Every time. The only bad part was that, due to our late reservation, we didn’t get to the burger until about 10:30 at night, so this morning when I woke up I could still feel the burger’s in my stomach.

We also got to try some Francis Coppola wine, followed by a bottle of Pacina. If a bottle had come out labelled “Brandino” or something it might’ve freaked me out.

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Any plans I had of sleeping in a bit late this morning came crashing to a halt at exactly 7 AM when some yahoos started running jackhammers across the street. It was so loud the cats freaked out and hid in the den, and even closing the double windows couldn’t drown out the sound. I could even hear some guy out his balcony yelling, “Hey, shut the fuck up!!!!” at the jackhammering dudes, but to no avail. If anybody couldn’t hear, it was them. Anyway…it seemed a little early for such nonsense. Surely there’s a bylaw I could reference if I weren’t too lazy to complain…

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After staying pretty much quiet for the whole offseason, the Canadiens have finally made a move or two: they dumped Richard Zednik before signing Mike Johnson and Sergei Samsonov. Zednik-for-Johnson is a good equation; adding Samsonov gives them more depth at centre, but it sure as shit doesn’t give them more size. They might be going for some sort of record; has any team ever started the year with 4 centres under 6 feet? If they dump Radek Bonk I believe they’ll manage it (’cause no way on God’s green earth is Mike Ribeiro 6 feet tall).

The Raptors have made some minor moves as well, adding two European players (Jorge Garbajosa and Anthony Parker) and signing John Salmons this afternoon. And, of course, there was the trade for T.J. Ford a while back.

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If you watched The Daily Show last night you saw Ted Stevens, the Senator from Alaska, make a fool of himself trying to explain net neutrality to Congress. As this ABC article says, “It’s too obvious that this man has no idea what the Internet is exactly and no idea about the issues behind Net neutrality. It seems like a miracle that he can even find the crapper.”

You can hear the pitiful shilling here. By the way, dig how he pronounces “Deutsche”.

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Also on The Daily Show last night: Shawn Wayans, star of the upcoming Little Man, which appears to be a right piece of shit. It has a 20% rating on Rotten Tomatoes right now, just slightly worse than the 22% sported by You, Me and Dupree.

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Finally, and obviously most troubling, is what’s happening in the middle east. Israel didn’t want their soldiers to be kidnapped, but they’ll certainly sieze the opportunity to go on the offensive. The US will obviously back Israel should anything escalate, just as Syria and Iran will back Hezbollah activity in Lebanon. The question, in my mind, is whether Saudi Arabia and/or Egypt would intervene if Israel moves more aggressively into Lebanon, or even against Syria. If the US found itself trying to decide between Israel and Saudi, all while fighting a war in Iraq and rattling sabres at Iran…it could get even messier (if that’s possible).

[tags]summerlicious, bymark, francis coppola, pacina, canadiens, richard zednik, mike johnson, sergei samsonov, anthony parker, john salmons, daily show, ted stevens, net neutrality, little man, dupree, israel, lebanon[/tags]

Man, that would be the easiest lawn in the world to mow…

Via Yes But No But Yes: the British (actors who starred in The Office) are coming (to the US version…for an episode…some time next season).

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I find this guy in a lawn-filled wheel both amusing and nostalgic (as you can see straight down Spring Garden Road in Halifax in the picture). Cool social commentary, and a shout-out (yeah, I said “shout-out”) to my alma mater too.

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Finally, Toronto Life has RSS feeds (most importantly for their food and wine blogs). I bitched about the lack of feeds back in May, but someone from TL informed me via the comments section that the feeds would soon appear…et voila, here they are.

[tags]the office, grass-lined wheel, dalhousie, halifax, toronto life[/tags]

Awoogula

I must be in a quirky mood. Both the new Regina Spektor disc and Hidden Cameras disc are really good. Metacritic generally agrees about the former, as does Pitchfork. The AV Club really digs it. Awoo, the Cameras disc, isn’t officially out yet, but eMusic seems to carry their catalogue so I’ll happily download it in the fall when it’s released.

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I have never seen an episode of Leave It To Beaver. I have never seen an episode of The Brady Bunch either (that I recall; I think my brothers watched it when I was a kid), nor have I ever watched an episode of Gilligan’s Island.

I don’t think this is particularly odd; these shows all aired before I was even born. However, mentioning to people that I haven’t seen these shows usually sends them reeling in disbelief.

[tags]regina spektor, hidden cameras, leave it to beaver, brady bunch, gilligan’s island[/tags]

64.84%

Comin’ up on the 2/3 mark of the course. I’m taking an hour to start putting my portion of the report into something humans can read, then eat, then circle back with the rest of the group. I’m mostly keeping the cold at bay…just have to hold on for another 43 hours or so and I’m all good.

Must…tear self…away from Simpsons episode…

[tags]mba, simpsons[/tags]

Baura? Len?

It’s been a big day for TimmyD. His application for British citizenship has been approved. Now, let’s hope he hasn’t bollocksed it up by not checking the post often enough.

Geez, scolding just sounds so much better when you’re British…

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TimmyD was also so kind as to pass on a rumour about Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant wanting to do more episodes of The Office. They’re right about the NBC version of The Office though; it’s gotten better and better as it’s gone along. I think they’ve actually done an even better job with the whole Tim-Dawn / Jim-Pam (or “Jam”, if you’re a TV nerd) thing than the British version…of course, they’ve had many more episodes to build the tension.

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Ben Harper is lost to me. His last…well, several albums (including his newest, Both Sides Of The Gun) haven’t done anything for me. I remember standing in my living room in my first apartment at Yonge & Sheppard, setting up my new stereo, when this song called “Faded” came on MuchMusic; I snappedlostit and ran out to find the disc. But since that disc…nuthin’. However, more people seem to dig him now than back then, so he’s doing something right for the masses (including Laura Dern, so you can’t blame him too much). Just not for me.

[tags]british citizenship, the office, ricky gervais, stephen merchant, nbc, ben harper[/tags]

What were people expecting?

We went to see The Da Vinci Code (imdb | rotten tomatoes) this afternoon, just so that we’re not the only people in North America who didn’t see it this weekend. It’s been getting rotten reviews, so I was a little surprised that I didn’t mind it. I mean, it wasn’t a triumph of filmmaking or anything…it was just the book put onto the big screen. That’s it. That’s all. It was nothing more or less than the book (save a few minor alterations). This wasn’t The Godfather or All Quiet On The Western Front; this was a summer book made into a summer movie. Anyone expecting groundbreaking cinema or religious enlightenment was looking for the wrong thing and judging the movie on the wrong merits. It’s a decent, slightly-more-intelligent-than-average summer movie. The fact that it’s getting worse ratings than R.V. suggests The Da Vinci Code is bearing the critics’ hipper-than-thou wrath.

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Umm…I think I know where 24 is taking place next season…

[tags]da vinci code, 24[/tags]

Elaborate, expensive porn for women

Salon talks about how Grey’s Anatomy is “just elaborate, expensive porn for women“, which would explain why I couldn’t stand the 30 seconds that I watched once.

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The Toronto Star asks whether Jon Stewart is helping or hurting.

But is his sarcasm turning those who watch him the most — young adults — into giant cynics with a diminishing trust in politicians and the institutions of democracy?

One new study, published this month in the journal American Politics Research, says yes. Reseachers have connected The Daily Show to lower opinions of politicians and greater cynicism toward the mainstream media and the electoral process itself.

My own opinion? It’s not Jon Stewart that’s making people cynical…governments and news media are doing that all on their own; Jon Stewart just calls bullshit. Maybe, though, he’s speeding things along…

[tags]jon stewart, grey’s anatomy[/tags]

"You got an ATM on that torso lite-brite?"

This weekend has been an exercise in comfort food. Last night we went to Fieramosca, just to relax after a long week. Nothing like a three-hour dinner to kick off the weekend, especially when it involves cheesecake.

It’s gotten to the point where they remember where we sat last time we were in, and to where the hostess is practically an old college buddy. I guess this is how Norm felt at Cheers.

Also: I love how, in all the times I’ve been there, I have yet to order off the menu.

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After dinner we watched This Girl’s Life (imdb | rotten tomatoes), one of those DVDs that arrives from Zip (twice; the first copy was cracked nearly in half) and I don’t remember adding it to my list. Must’ve been a recommendation from someone. Anyway, it wasn’t very good; the lead actress looks an awful lot like Angelina Jolie, which made it easy to watch, but James Woods did such a convincing job playing her Parkinson’s afflicted father…which made it hard to watch. There were little bit parts from Rosario Dawson and Michael Rapaport, but the funniest one was Kip Pardue: both Nellie and I thought he was Sean Dugan, who played homicidal minister Timmy Kirk on Oz. She was disturbed by how well he cleaned up, when our lasting memory of him was burying Luke Perry alive inside a wall. Anyhoo.

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The comfort food journey continue this afternoon after we’d picked up some food & drink at the Summerhill LCBO and All The Best, and stopped in at the Rebel House for brunch. It was a perfect day for some french toast on the patio. When he saw that Nellie had ordered a Dennison’s Weissbeer our server told us about the Press Club, a place on Dundas West that served a great Ephemere wheat beer…can’t remember if he said it was apricot or peach. Anyway, maybe we’ll check it out if we ever get down to Little Portugal.

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I’d heard some bad things about the Yeah Yeah Yeahs‘ Show Your Bones, but after a few listens I really like it. I guess, despite whatever early press I’d heard, I’m not the only one.

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This Michelle Goldberg article in Salon about the rise of “Christian Nationalism” in the US is fascinating and frustrating. These two paragraphs were the most compelling, and alarming:

“It’s not surprising that Stern is alarmed. Reading his forty-five-year-old book ‘The Politics of Cultural Despair: A Study in the Rise of the Germanic Ideology,’ I shivered at its contemporary resonance. ‘The ideologists of the conservative revolution superimposed a vision of national redemption upon their dissatisfaction with liberal culture and with the loss of authoritative faith,’ he wrote in the introduction. ‘They posed as the true champions of nationalism, and berated the socialists for their internationalism, and the liberals for their pacifism and their indifference to national greatness.’

Fascism isn’t imminent in America. But its language and aesthetics are distressingly common among Christian nationalists. History professor Roger Griffin described the ‘mobilizing vision’ of fascist movements as ‘the national community rising Phoenix-like after a period of encroaching decadence which all but destroyed it’ (his italics). The Ten Commandments has become a potent symbol of this dreamed-for resurrection on the American right.”

As she said, fascism isn’t around the corner, but I worry that we might be able to hear it in the distance.

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Speaking of fascism (but the funny kind), check out this claymation video of the Emperor hearing that the Death Star had been destroyed. It’s funny if you’re even half a Star Wars geek. [via the movie blog]

[tags]fieramosca, rebel house, press club, yeah yeah yeahs, michelle goldberg, christian nationalism, death star[/tags]

"I think I'll leave it at that."

SmartEconomist [free subscription required] estimates that the Iraq war has cost between $750 billion and $1.27 trillion, and could cost another $380 billion to $1.4 trillion…even if it stopped today. By their reckoning, $1.27 trillion would be the “moderate” estimate.

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From MSNBC: Even ringtones can be racist sometimes.

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From the Star: this pollster has a pretty skewed view of our prime minister:

“The Canadian and U.S. leaders could not be more different…Stephen Harper is a genuine intellectual, brilliant in his understanding of issues. I think I’ll leave it at that.”

Still…while few Canadians would consider Harper a high-grade intellectual, he’s right about Bush.

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Farewell, Veronica Mars. [warning…if you haven’t seen the season (series?) finale and you care at all, don’t read that article. spoilers abound.]

[tags]economics, iraq war, racist ringtone, stephen harper, dubya, frank luntz, veronica mars[/tags]