I forgot to mention this earlier but there was actually something funny in the Sunday Times Magazine questions column last weekend. Normally it's just Deborah Solomon sounding like an ass. In fact, I've read that a couple of people (including Ira Glass) have accused her of editing their answers in a way that changed the meaning of what they'd said and of making up new questions to answers they'd given. Anyway, Sunday's subject was Umberto Eco. The high point of the interview was when he responded (ostensibly) to a question about the DaVinci Code by saying that Dan Brown was like a character from Foucault's Pendulum. First time I ever heard of DaVinci Code I remember thinking it sounded like Foucault's Pendulum for morons. But it never occurred to me that Brown actually was one of Eco's characters come to life.

Eat at Joe's says pretty much everything that needs to be said about the closing of Starlu. Sarah and I had many great meals there, including a birthday dinner, a Valentine's Day meal, and the chef's table. Even though I know (from lurking around the site-which-shall-not-be-named) that there were plenty of doubters and haters, I always thought Starlu was one of the gems of the Durham dining scene. I'm sad to see them closing but definitely looking forward to see what Sam's got planned for the future.

Thanks to the Estimable H. Trouser for pointing me to the existence of Bonzo Dog Band clips on YouTube. I've been trying to remember how I first became aware of the Bonzos. It might have been the Python connection. It might have been Dr. Demento. But I kinda think it was the first college radio station I ever listened to (back when I was in high school) and a DJ who played "the Intro and the Outro." Sadly, there's no video of that. But here's another fave:

From earlier this afternoon:

TG (co-worker eating lunch at his desk) is looking at an article on Huffington Post
me (walking past): Hey, scroll back up to that please.
Headline reads: "Jesse Jackson: Edwards is Only Dem Candidate Not Ignoring African Americans"
me: So does that mean Barack Obama is ignoring himself and his family?
TG: Yes. Michelle is so angry.
me: To say nothing of the kids...

(too easy, I know, but sometimes you gotta pick the low-hanging fruit)

My bro sent us an amazingly cool CD: Songs the Bonzo Dog Band Taught Us. It's a collection of the original versions of tunes that were later recorded by the Bonzos, mostly British music hall stuff from the 20s and 30s. So much fun. Here's a review (scroll about halfway down). One thing I noticed was that a line in "Ali Baba's Camel" which I'd always assumed to be a late 60s variation added by Viv Stanshall ("out for what we all want, lots of LSD") was in fact in the 1932 version by the Rhythmic Troubadours. Somewhat perplexing, as LSD wasn't synthesized until 1938. Fortunately, a bit of googling revealed that someone else had already asked this question. And found the answer. Apparently "LSD" was period slang for pounds, shillings and pence.

XDU wrrld music top 10 (week ending 25 nov 07)

Breath :: Mercan Dede
Complete Recordings, 1949-50 :: Ben Baruch
Panamericana :: Federico Aubele
Brasil 70 :: various
Rokku Mi Rokka :: Youssou N'Dour
Ticklah vs. Axelrod :: Ticklah
Disko Partizani :: Shantel
Sino :: Café Tacuba
Latin Bitman :: DJ Bitman
Invasion :: Alien Chatter

this week's video feature: Café Tacuba

Since we're now in the early throes of the holiday season (for reals), here's the first in a possibly ongoing series of eggnog reports. (Haters can go drink their haterade)
This AM while on a not-terribly early morning biscuit run, I stopped in at Starbucks (I know... I know... but it was on the way and all the decent local places were out of the way) and had an eggnog latte. Which I've been having at least one or two of nearly every year for the past decade. And I wanna tell you this was hands down the worst incarnation of the drink I have tasted. Evah! Poorly foamed. Not enough coffee. And enough nutmeg to induce hallucinations in small animals. Feh, I say.
On a much weirder, but more encouraging front, I picked up something called eggnog fudge at Fresh Market the other day. I still haven't quite decided what the consistency is. It's not quite fudge. But it's not all the way to taffy, either. Somewhere between fudge and caramel. So yes, it's eggnog in candy form. Intense and concentrated and completely deranged. I likes it.

So we had our non-trad Thanksgiving on Thursday then last night we went over to friends and had a much more trad T-giving 2: the Leftovers. There were 6 of us and altho we weren't able to wipe them out we were at least able to put a serious hurting on the turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, etc. And a couple of bottles of wine. Good times. The evening wrapped up with several rounds of Katamari Damacy. Which is every bit as awesome and insane as I'd read. Must resist temptation to go out right now and buy a PS2. As Sarah pointed out, we have enough time sinks in our lives already and don't really need one that comes with cute graphics and a wacky J-pop soundtrack.

Hope you're having a jolly holiday. We're just lazing around the house since the planned trip up north to spend Thanksgiving w/ Sarah's family was cancelled at the last minute due to coughing and congestion. Watching the Philly parade on TV. Sarah made biscuits. There's a pork shoulder in the crockpot. (the campaign to make cochinita pibil the new official Thanksgiving dish begins here --step off, Trillin!) We'll go more trad with the sides (maybe some roasted brussels sprouts) and dessert (an apple-cranberry pie).

Whatever y'all are doing today, hope it's fun.

Happy Thanksgiving from Produce Pete. And from me too.

Here's a few albums I'd have added to the 1000 list that the Gaurdian's been running.

Buscando America :: Ruben Blades y Seis de Solar
Wish I Was In Heaven Sitting Down :: R. L. Burnside
Rei Momo :: David Byrne
Telephone Free Landslide Victory :: Camper Van Beethoven
Live at the Coconut Grove :: Sammy Davis, Jr.
the Good Earth :: the Feelies
Here Comes the Groom :: John Wesley Harding
Eartha Quake :: Eartha Kitt
Afriki :: Habib Koité and Bamada
the Sound of Konk :: Konk
Big Chief :: Professor Longhair
Mlah :: les Negresses Vertes
Never Trust a Hippy :: Adrian Sherwood

I'll be on the air tonight, 8-10pm. I'm sure it will be a fairly self-indulgent 2 hours. Possibly related to the list of 1000 albums you should hear before you die that I blogged about yesterday. Or maybe not. I do guarantee that the show will be 100% free of Xmas music. Actually, looking how the schedule breaks out this year, I'll have shows on the 8th and 13th of December and (barring last minute sub opportunities like tonight) that'll be it until after the hols. And I just know I'm not gonna be ramped up to full-speed Xmas music by the 13th.

Ooh... a list. And not just any list but a big long opinionated list of 1000 albums you should hear before you die (thanks to Dependable Erection for the linkage). Lots of interesting choices. It's not like I've gone thru and counted but my guess is around 50-65% that I've heard at least parts of. Most of what I've seen I agree with altho I thought there were a few too many greatest hits comps (cheat!). I'd have picked an actual Fela album (Expensive Shit would be a good choice). I would choose Atomizer as the definitive Big Black. And while I understand that they're trying to go for the less obvious choice there's just no way your one Sinatra album should be September of My Years. A fine album to be sure but probably not even in my top 10 Frank records. I noticed a few missing acts that I'd have included: Orbital (Green Album? In Sides? Middle of Nowhere?), the Gun Club (Miami) and Indestructible Beat of Soweto. I'm sure there's more, both idiosyncratic faves and overlooked gems. I'll be particularly interested to see which Talking Heads and XTC albums they choose,

Here's a somewhat seasonal beverage of the tasty variety. Not at the edges of extreme mixology or anything but a simple drink you can knock back a few of while you're roasting your turkey (or ordering your pizza or watching your relatives argue with each other or whatever it is you might be doing):

1 part Maker's Mark
3 parts apple cider
1 splash grenadine
notes: if you can't get anything but nasty supermarket grenadine made with HFCS, leave it out -- the drink will still be good; if you don't have a fresh cider, forget the whole thing and have a beer instead

Altho it wasn't, perhaps, a classic for the ages, Sunday night's Simpsons did have a bunch of just killer stuff. Including Jack Black as a hipster comic book guy who sang a Korean pop cover of "What's New, Pussycat?" and a nice Tin Tin homage and Dan Clowes, Alan Moore and Art Speigelman as themselves (and superhero versions of themselves). Moore in particular was one of the better artist cameos they've had (right up there with Jasper "yoink" Johns).

In case Thanksgiving doesn't make your week festive enough, the day after will be Black Friday Beer Fest. A nice way to spend a couple of hours in the afternoon and recuperate from a day of shopping, college football, or (in my case) work. I'm very excited to see that Arrogant Bastard will be on the beer list for the event.

And, in other yeast-related news, here's a nice tutorial on how to cut pain epi. It's a scissor cut you can use on a batard or baguette type of loaf that makes for a really nice presentation of your bread.

XDU wrrld music top 10 (week ending 18 nov 07)

(A) Move to Silent Unrest :: Chicago Afrobeat Project
Latin Bitman :: DJ Bitman
Ticklah vs. Axelrod :: Ticklah
Brazil 70 :: various
Disko Partizani :: Shantel
Trollebotn :: Origami Arktika
Panamericana :: Federico Aubele
Scare Tactics :: the Afromotive
Sino :: Café Tacuba
Colombia! the Golden Age of Discos Fuentes, 1960-1976 :: various

this week's video feature: Shantel

In comments on this thread (on the inexorable forward march o' the Xmas Season) someone calls shenanigans on the holiday version of those Visa check card commercials. You know the ones (I'm sure you hate them as much as I do) -- the ones that suggest that your duty is to be brainless shopping automaton and that if you dare to use cash for a transaction you will be scorned as some sort of iconclastic anarchist and troublemaker. I know we all want to live in the future and all that but ads like that make we want to pay for everything in pennies.
In further surprising news, y'know that big plan by Bush last week to save us all from holiday travel delays? Total bullshit.
(Shocked! Shocked I am!)

Annoying thing #1: Or at least weird, as it still stranges me out that the U-Check machine asks me to show ID whenever I buy some DayQuil. I could understand if I was buying 100 boxes but, WTF? I'm gonna go to every store in town to buy DayQuil in order to upstock a meth lab or something one box at a time? Ridiculous.

Annoying thing #2: I'm sorry but if I order a glass of the house wine and you tell me there's a special some other kind of wine by the glass that night, I think you ought to mention at some point that the "special" glass of wine is almost double the price. grumble... grumble

Annoying thing #3: So I read this story in the N&O on Friday about how this guy had dropped $10K to bring an authentic Mummer string band to the Raleigh Xmas Parade on Saturday (#3.5, of course, should be: why is the damn Xmas Parade a week before Thanksgiving but, really, that ship has sailed so what's the point in bothering to be bothered?). If Sarah hadn't been getting over a cold we'd probably have gone down to see it in person. But we figured it'd be a better idea to stay in and watch on TV. Which we did only to be treated to, maybe 30 seconds total, most of which were taken up with shots of some toddler in the crowd and the string band's borderline offensive Speedy Gonzales mascot. Very little explanation of what Mummers are. Nothing at all about the local interest story of the Mummers fan who'd paid to bring them all the way from Philly. They did get a nice shot of the band leader doing the Mummer strut and of one of the banjo players who looked to be in his 80s. But still... Feh on WRAL. Guess I'll just have to wait until New Year's and hope the Mummer's Parade isn't rained out again.

Okay, we have a new contender for line of the week. This time from a comment on Michael Ruhlman's blog, specifically one addressing the festival of idiocy that erupted in the comments on his final Next Iron Chef post: "some people need to drill a hole in their heads and let the stupid out."

On a related note, your comment has been rejected.

Hey hey it's the New Frontier implosion. I could watch that over and over. And, no, the New Frontier is actually not the first place in Vegas where I've set foot that's later been imploded. Way back on my first ever visit, I ate at the Sands breakfast buffet. I once walked thru the Desert Inn. And Sarah and I ate lunch at the Stardust. But the NF is the first imploded casino in which I actually stayed. (No, the Algiers doesn't count as it was too small to implode. I'm sure it was just demolished.) Anyway, as I've said many times on this blog, the New Frontier was a pit and I'm not sorry to see it go. Even if it is being replaced by some deranged collection of multiple Plaza Hotels.

Line of the week comes to us from A.V. Club's Tolerability Index (talking about complaints that the Golden Compass promotes atheism: "if it's about killing God, it's promoting deicide, not atheism. How can someone murder God if he doesn't exist?"

Also bringing the funny, some killer Lego animations of Eddie Izzard routines. All are worth checking out, but I think this one is best:

Last night's movie: Get Carter (1971 original version, of course -- you'd have to pay me to watch the Stallone remake). It's an intense but ultimately sordid British gangster flick, starring Michael Caine. This is not the breezily suave Caine but the cold, calculating bastard Caine. Much more Alfie than the Italian Job. He's a London mobster who goes back to his hometown in northern England to find out how his brother died. Well done, altho I did have trouble keeping track of the plot and figuring out just which lowlife Caine was beating up or killing much of the time. I'm glad to have seen it but I doubt I'll want to watch it again any time soon. I was surprised at the level of brutality (altho it was made 4 years after Bonnie and Clyde and only 1 before the Godfather so I don't know why I was surprised). I suppose you could make an argument that the movie is just flatout misanthropic. I think the movie does share Carter's dim view of most people, with the added bonus that he's not much better than anyone else in the wretched hive of scum and villiany he used to call home. But, for me, it crosses over the line into creepily misogynist. Too much angry sex, face slapping, verbal abuse, pornography and murder. It becomes clear that Carter is just a deeply unpleasant man seeking revenge on people even more fucked up and evil and that's not a whole lot of fun to watch.

Easily the best thing about the movie is the theme music.

Thanks to the fine folks at CookingEatingDurham I'm now completely obsessed with Free Rice which is a vocabulary quiz that's raising money for the UN World Food Program. I'm not sure how sustainable their business model is. I mean, when I'm playing the game I'm not paying any attention to the ads on the page which is where the revenue is coming from. I guess the theory that the game and the desire to create more food contributions combine to keep people on the site longer, meaning the ads get more views. The game, like I said, is completely engrossing. At least if you're a word geek. I've actually been able to max my score out, altho it took a good while and I think I was aided a bit by words I learned from the game. Even though they state that they have a large dictionary I definitely started to see some repetition after a while. Still, it's tons o' fun.

XDU wrrld music top 10 (week ending 11 nov 07)

Brazil 70 :: various
Colombia! the Golden Age of Discos Fuentes, 1960-1976 :: various
Segu Blue :: Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba
Afriki :: Habib Koité & Bamada
Studio One Roots, vol. 3 :: various
(A) Move to Silent Unrest :: Chicago Afrobeat Project
Panamericana :: Federico Aubele
Scare Tactics :: the Afromotive
Latin Bitman :: DJ Bitman
Cal :: Son de la Frontera

this week's video feature: DJ Bitman

Haven't posted for the last few days because I haven't done much of anything except watch season 3 of Project Runway on DVD. Overall I'd rate it a bit ahead of season 1 but not quite up to season 2.

Locals please note that this coming Tuesday is RSVVP Day, when 10 percent of your check at participating restaurants will be donated to help fight hunger. Eat a good meal and do some good at the same time.

Tuesday night we had dinner at Rue Cler. Hey, it's been open for a year so we thought it was time we checked it out. And it was amazing. Damn, we definitely should have gotten over there sooner. Sarah had the onion soup and coq au vin, which she said were great (and certainly seemed to be from the taste I had). I had the frisee salad (with lardons & a sunny side up egg on top) and the steak frites. The salad was great -- I'll be hard pressed not to order it every single time we go there. And that may have been the best steak frites I've ever had. I think the steak at Mon Ami Gabi might have been a bit bigger but the Rue Cler one was a bit better. And the fries were top-notch as well. They got to seeming a bit salty towards the end of the plate, but that was partly my fault I think since I didn't ask for a glass of water when they brought the entrees out. Tony Bourdain said that the steak frites at Bouchon in Vegas was the best he'd ever had. I may have to check that out next time we're there. In the meantime, I'm quite happy to have finally added Rue Cler to my list of fave Durham restaurants.

Saturday night when we were hanging out, the question came up as to how late would the sun be rising if we didn't switch back to Eastern Standard Time. So I went and looked up sunrise times. If we stayed in Daylight Savings Time, the sun would rise at 8am around Nov. 22nd and days would continue getting shorter, obviously, until the solstice, when the sun would come up around 8.25am. And sunrise would not get back to 8am until sometime in mid-February. So, yeah, about 3 months of the sun coming up 8am or later... I think I'm okay with switching back to Standard Time, thanks.

I'm not in the market for buying a GPS but I guarantee if I ever am, I will not not not be buying a Garmin. Why? Cos last night I saw one of their commercials and it was one that uses "the Carol of the Bells" as it's music. Not the funny "there's that moose again" spot that I might have mentioned liking last year. But even if it had been it wouldn't have mattered. Because those ads were enjoyable last December. Yesterday was Guy Fawkes' Day. Do not show me Xmas themed commercials the day before frikkin' Election Day and except me to ever buy your product. Ever.
BTW, it's Election Day and, as stated in previous years, HoD supports hauling yr carcass outta bed and voting for someone, dammit. Preferably not the people that robo-called me twice within a half-hour last night but it's your choice, so go make it.

Hey, it's Guy Fawkes' Day. I'm pretty sure I first heard of Guy Fawkes via Python. This was long before Alan Moore and V for Vendetta. Speaking of which, the AV Club had some of the truest words ever written: "Although the gap between what can go into a comic book and what can go on a movie screen is narrowing, the gap between what Alan Moore can put in a comic book and what Hollywood can put in a movie sadly isn't."

XDU wrrld music top 10 (week ending 04 nov 07)

Brazil 70 :: various
Colombia! the Golden Age of Discos Fuentes, 1960-1976 :: various
Segu Blue :: Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba
Latin Bitman :: DJ Bitman
Latin Lounge Jazz - Havana :: various
Ticklah vs. Axelrod :: Ticklah
Trollebotn :: Origami Arktika
Cal :: Son de la Frontera
Afriki :: Habib Koité & Bamada
Panamericana :: Federico Aubele

this week's video feature: Habib Koité & Bamada

We got together with S. and D. and spacegrrl last night. Met at Piedmont for tasty beverages. Which were quite tasty. I had the Manhattan which is recommended. I was also impressed with the bartender's attention to the small details (chilled glasses and so on). During our stay at the bar, we had a period of calm deliberation which was nothing at all like indecision and uncertainty and which was highlighted by D's insistence that he'd decided to be agreeable and that there was nothing we could suggest, down to and including McDonald's (I've never had a filet o' fish and always wanted to try one...). At least one of us had been in the first several suggestion within the last day or two but we finally hit on City Beverage. We'd stopped going there since it was often cramped, crowded and noisy which seemed like it shouldn't be a problem since they've recently expanded. As indeed it wasn't. The new section continues the lounge/Vegas/exotica stylings of the original area except it tends towards the clean and well-lighted as opposed to the dark and mysterious. Bell's Two-Hearted Ale on tap which is always a good thing. Spacegrrl had a very nice tiki-esque cocktail which all pronounced a very tasty beverage. S. had a mojito which was not as universally praised. The freshly made potato chips lived up to the menu hype. My main course (brats, mashed potatoes & kraut) was only okay. It did come with some nice stone-ground mustard but wasn't all that. There was nothing wrong with it, but I probably wouldn't order it again. Other dishes at the table (inc. muffuletta, burger, and steak sandwich) were better received. That's always been my sense of the food at City Bev -- you can have a really nice meal there if you order right. And at worst it'll be an okay meal in a setting that just oozes retro-kitsch exotica style. So what's not to like...

While driving out to the dump and back this morning, I noticed that a bunch of new political signs had been put up around town. I'm pretty sure last night since I don't remember seeing them on my way home yesterday between 4 and 5. The signs said: Thomas Stith: Right-Wing Republican; don't be fooled. Or something very close to that (I didn't have my camera with me or I'd have tried to get a picture). What I find interesting about that is, depending on where you put a sign like that, it's either a warning or an endorsement. Of course, we saw them first in Oval Park so they're pretty clearly anti-Stith signs. I also found it amusing that the sign crews seem to have paid particular attention to getting their signs up right next to already existing pro-Stith signage. I'll be interested to see how the yard sign campaign plays out over the next few days.

Found a couple of really interesting music-related sites: first, an amazing collection of reviews of soundies (about 19 pages, I think -- I've only begun to read my way thru them). Soundies were short music films, the precursors of music videos. Their heyday was in the 1940s but this site reviews a much wider range of music shorts from the 20s up thru the 50s. I'm still amazed some times by the things you can find on the internets. 15 years ago there would have been no way for a fan with an encyclopedic knowledge of old soundies to share that with more than a handful of people. Now I can find it without even knowing that I'm looking for it. On a related note, here's a nice site all about early jazz, with lots of info about artists and albums, including sound files and even a few film clips, including some footage of Ben Bernie and his Orchestra, from 1924. Divaville Lounge listeners might remember Ben Bernie for the song "Let's Put Out the Lights and Go to Sleep." According to this page, he also popularized the phrase "yowsah, yowsah." who knew...

Tonight's movie: Nightmare Before Christmas 3D. We met up with Ray, spacegrrl, and Marie at the multiplex. I pretty much agree with the reviews I've read that the digital 3D doesn't add all that much to the movie. It's not like they went back in and added lots of yoyos and paddleballs into scenes. Except for the snowstorm at the end and a moment where Jack seems to lean out into the theater, the 3D is mostly used for depth of field. But it's pretty damn impressive, I have to say. It was like the diorama version of the movie. And, anyway, even if it didn't add anything much, it absolutely didn't detract from the movie, which is one of my all time favorites so it was great to see it on the big screen again, no matter how many dimensions involved.
For those keeping score at home, yes, we once again had to sit thru the trailer for that damn Vince Vaughn "Santa's brother" movie. I think that's the 5th time now. It feels like the trailer is 5 min. long, but it's probably only 2. I wonder what percentage of the actual flick that would be. Probably about 10% but I can't say for sure. I guess because it hasn't released yet there's no runtime listed at imdb.