Happy Leap Day. I was at XDU this afternoon, subbing from 4 to 6. I'd planned to start with "Here Comes My Baby" (the Cat Stevens song on the Rushmore soundtrack) but while I was driving over I thought of a song which at least had the word "leap" in the title so decided to go with that one -- "Waiting for the Great Leap Forward" by Billy Bragg & His Questionable Use of Maoist Imagery.

So, this post makes me think that it might be time for a Durm corollary to Godwin's Law: first person to mention N*f*ng loses.

Finally, to wrap up the randomness, while I can add a recommendation for the lengua tacos to my earlier thoughts on Taqueria Lopez, I can't say the same for the chicharrón tacos. The menu says fried so I was expecting something crispy but these were much softer. Lots of good porky flavor and some of the unctuousness of, say, braised pork belly but way too much soft 'n chewy skin. Do not want. Still, I've tasted 6 of their tacos and that's the only one I didn't care for.

One of the high points of our Vegas trip was our tour of the Neon Boneyard. The Neon Museum works to preserve the history of Vegas as seen thru it's signature signs. They have several restored signs around the Fremont St. area downtown. They also have the signs not yet restored (or not scheduled to be restored) in two lots just north of downtown. The lots don't look all that big at first but they are just crammed with stuff. Including old signage from the Golden Nugget, Binion's, the Silver Slipper, the Dunes, Stardust, Sahara. The tour was fascinating. Our guide knew a lot of interesting stories about the history of Vegas as well as the history of the various signs. My two favorite things were the signs from the Algiers, where Sarah and I stayed on our first trip to Vegas (I've probably mentioned that many times already but, hey, this is my house and I'm allowed to be rambling and repetitious) and also one of the big pirate skulls from Treasure Island. Our guide said that if you look at the site of the Boneyard on Google Earth you can see the pirate skull looking up at you but I haven't verified this.
The Neon Museum is currently working on several projects that will make them much more of a presence. They've got part of the La Concha Motel (the first actual architecture that's been donated to them) and they're restoring it to use as a visitor center for the museum and Boneyard. I think the plan is for one of the two lots to house the restored signs and the visitor center and for the other to remain the boneyard. Also they plan to have several restored signs in the median strip of the street leading from downtown to the museum/boneyard. So that should be mighty impressive once it's ready.
If you go to flickr and search, you can find lots of pics from the Boneyard. I haven't decided whether to put any of mine up. They said they were okay with personal photos but not with any commercial uses. But flickr falls into a grey area. In some ways it is just a big online personal photo album. But once something's online, it's easy for anyone to just take it and do whatever with it. Obviously, that doesn't bother some people but like I said, I'm still sorting out what I think.

One of the places we try to always get to in Vegas is Lindo Michoacan. They used to have a website but I couldn't find it this time around. That's a pretty good overview, though. I think I first read about them in a Time Out guide. And even though the Mexican food in the Triangle has gotten much, much better over the last few years, we still love going to Lindo Michoacan. This time we went on Thursday for a light lunch and had an order of sopes (with chorizo -- awesome!) and guacamole. The guac is really fun and prepared tableside. I first remember seeing them do this at Bonito Michoacan where they used a molcajete. Here they just used a bowl but it was still amazingly good. Nothing like super fresh made guacamole.
Another classic Vegas thing-to-do is a buffet. We actually skipped the buffet experience last trip and I thought we were going to this time as well. But we made a last-minute switchup on Friday and passed on Hash House A Go Go. Which is awesome but I just didn't feel like schlepping all the way out there after we'd checked out Friday morning. Instead we opted for the Wynn Buffet. A buffet's never gonna be as good as a top flight restaurant. But this was pretty damn good. I'd say it's right up there with Bellagio for best buffet in Vegas. For me, the high points were the salads (balsamic mushroom; jicama; roasted beets; pear/gorgonzola). I made a couple of dud selections (ceviche was just meh; pizza would have been better if it had been fresher out the oven) and realized after I was full that I'd missed a section of seafood entrees. But that's sorta what the whole buffet experience is about. They did have very nice steamed pork buns. Kobe beef meatballs that, while I couldn't tell you what the Kobe was adding, were quite tasty. And a bunch of other stuff that I can't remember now cos I didn't write anything down. Oh, and this chocolate banana mousse cake that was up there with the best desserts I tasted all week.
So, yeah, these posts have all yammered on longer than I've expected them to. Which is why the "next time" announcements have been consistently wrong. Live and don't learn...
(still to come: Neon Boneyard, Bouchon)

This is a dessert we picked up at Payard Patisserie, a new pastry shop in Caesars. It's not easy to find -- we had to ask the concierge, in fact. It's towards the back, I think in one of the newer towers, across from Rao's. Definitely worth seeking out, though. This was called a Sicilian: "madeleine sponge cake filled with cream cheese mousse, cranberry gelee and a dusting of ground Sicilian pistachios topped with a cream cheese crumble." Amazing. Payard was pastry chef at Tour d'Argent, Le Bernardin and Restaurant Daniel before opening his name-sake patisserie. Next time we're there I'm planning to visit way more than just one time.
Also on the sweets front in Vegas, we made a couple of stops at the Vosges store. Wed PM they were having a pre-Valentine open house, with free samples of truffles and drinks and such. The store's really small and it got crowded pretty fast so we didn't stay long. Sampled some truffles and checked out stuff we wanted to buy. Came back the next afternoon and picked up a few things -- gifts for others and for ourselves, including a new chocolate bar I've never seen before, one with plantain chips. Haven't tried that yet. Will report back when I do.
Probably the most surprising we saw the whole trip was the rare book store at Palazzo. It hadn't opened yet, but they'd stocked the display windows and you could see some of the books on the shelves inside. Which included several James Bond novels, Harold and the Purple Crayon, a UK edition of the first Harry Potter, and Where the Wild Things Are. The ones I remember from the windows were a facsimile (I assume) of the Ship of Fools and an edition of Huckleberry Finn that was priced around $70K. I'm not sure how many high-rolling antiquarian book lovers come thru Vegas. On the other hand, I'm sure they're rent is no more PSF than the make-up store around the corner and you'd have to sell a hell of a lotta blush to get to $70K. Very cool and definitely not what I expected to find in a casino mall.
(next time: guacamole, buffet, Boneyard)

XDU wrrld music top 10 (week ending 24 feb 08)

Shoghaken Ensemble :: Shoghaken Ensemble
Venus on Earth :: Dengue Fever
Remixed: UFOs Over Bamako :: Vieux Farka Toure
Devotion :: Cheb i Sabbah
San Sheng Shi :: Li Jianhong
Spiral On :: Brazz Tree
From the Badlands :: Papo Vazquez' Pirates Troubadours
Charanga Chango :: Bobby Matos
Learn How to Respect :: Culture Brothers
Afreecanos :: Omar Sosa

this week's video feature: Vieux Farka Toure

So one of the (few) downsides of staying at Mandalay Bay is that there aren't as many light breakfast options down at that end of the Strip. Up towards the middle there are lots of options if you want a croissant or pastry: Bouchon Bakery and Pinot Brasserie at Venetian, Palio Cafe at Bellagio, le Notre at Paris, Payard at Caesars (more on that later), and a place in Miracle Mile that brews Illy. We walked over to THE Hotel one morning, having seen on the MBay hype channel that THE Cafe was some kind of modern re-imagining of the classic coffee shop. Sadly, they were THE closed. Actually, it looked like maybe they had changed their hours and stopped serving THE breakfast. That left us with few options. Red White and Blue had decent coffee, iced tea and pastries. Altho the pastries seemed to run out pretty early. And the counter help (at least one of them) was probably the surliest waiter I've ever seen in Vegas. There was a Starbucks in the Mandalay Place mall but we try to avoid those (Sarah hates their iced tea and I find their coffee generic). We tried the Chocolate Swan in MP mall one morning. Lame scone and dubious tea but they were brewing Peet's coffee.
Another option, if you're mid-Strip, is the new Illy Espressamente, in the Palazzo at Venetian. I had one of the best cappucinos I've had outside of Italy. Sarah had a lemon sorbetto which was top-notch as well. They were massively disorganized -- no clear way to figure out where you're supposed to stand, lots of people cleaning and polishing machines with their backs to the counter, no one seemed to know how to work the register -- but since they've only been open for a few weeks, I'm sure that will improve with time.
If we'd wanted a heartier breakfast, we could have trammed or walked up to MGM and gone to 'wichcraft. They're supposed to have great breakfast sandwiches. I did walk over on Tuesday and get one of their meatloaf sandwiches, which we split for lunch. Meatloaf, bacon, cheddar and tomato relish. It's an awesome thing indeed. After it warms up, I'll have to check out Sandwhich in Chapel Hill. They seem to be working the same basic territory. We tried to go there last fall but it was mobbed -- no seats inside and too cold to sit outside.
(next time: chocolates, cake, rare books, and (finally) photos)

One of the new places we went to last week in Vegas was Okada. It's at the Wynn -- a gorgeous space, overlooking one of the many waterfalls. Altho the bar area has these neat giant sake barrels, the dining room is more subdued. I didn't make reservations before the trip but even calling Tuesday afternoon I was able to get a table for that night. Not until 9.30 but that's not such a big deal in Vegas, where everything runs late. I had the cucumber salad to start, which was excellent. Reminded me a bit of a sophisticated version of the fresh pickles from the Barbecue Joint, but with a Japanese twist -- seaweed, sesame, etc. For main course, I had the sashimi platter. Wonderful. In fact, some of the best fish I've ever had. Retrospectively, though, I wish I'd ordered more adventurously and either gotten the sushi chef's choice platter or just gotten sushi a la carte. There were several things on the menu that you never see in North Carolina. The sashimi platter, tho great, was mostly tuna. Altho it did include oh toro which I'd never tasted before. The flavor was spectacular altho one of the pieces actually had some connective tissue and required chewing unlike everything else which was like buttah. Don't know enough to say whether it was just a bad cut or if that piece of oh toro maybe wasn't quite the same top quality as the other fish.
It's not cheap (nothing in Vegas is anymore, really) but I've payed almost as much for sushi around here that's nowhere near as good. I've heard conflicting reports about Nobu (at the Hard Rock) and would be more likely to go back to Okada next time I'm in Vegas and wanting sushi.
Also had a nice ginger-y shochu cocktail to start. And for dessert, we shared a raspberry tart with lime sorbet. The sorbet, altho super tart on its own, was a great counterpoint to the berries. Only quibble is that while delicious and gorgeous, it was difficult to eat. The presentation was really more of a little stack of berries with not much holding them together and they were as likely to roll around the plate as end up on your fork. Still, a nice change of pace from the usual green tea ice cream. I thought about trying the mochi but we're rather off the mochi experience for a while, having been exposed to a particularly wretched version that we bought from TJ's last month.

(next time: meatloaf sandwich (for reals); cappucino; chocolate)

XDU wrrld music top 10 (week ending 17 feb 08)

Venus on Earth :: Dengue Fever
Spiral On :: Brazz Tree
Devotion :: Cheb i Sabbah
Papa Mambo :: John Santos Quintet
San Sheng Shi :: Li Jianhong
Afreecanos :: Omar Sosa
Nova Estaçao EP 1 & 2 :: Da Cruz
Learn How to Respect :: Culture Brothers
Rumba Palace :: Arturo Sandoval
Charanga Chango :: Bobby Matos

this week's video feature: Cheb i Sabbah

Last Monday was our travel day out to Vegas. And it went about as well as air travel can these days. The lines weren't long. No one was surly or stupid. The most amusing thing was the woman right next to us when we checking our bags who kept finding stuff in her carry-on that needed to go in her checked luggage (nail scissors, etc). This, of course, was after her checked luggage had already been sent over for inspection. On the no fun at all front was the poor shmuck who was trying to change his reservation which was charged to a company card which he didn't have with him. I've been that guy (altho it was only a rental car and not an about-to-leave plane) and I know just how frustrating it is to feel left hung out to dry like that. The only downsides of the trip out were: (1) we were dressed for arrival in Vegas weather and not the low 30s RDU at o'dark thirty departure weather; (2) completely full flight on the way out and Sarah was stuck in a middle seat and the guy on the aisle was one of those expansive sitters. But at least it was a non-stop. Sure they only give you crummy snacks and the bagel sandwich I bought at RDU was quite revolting. Again, non-stop. And the babies on board kept the screaming & wailing & gnashing of teeth to a minimum. And our bags were already on the baggage claim carousel by the time we walked down there. Since we were renting a car for the whole trip, we just had to hop the shuttle to the spiffy new rental car center -- it's like a whole terminal just for rental cars. Access to the Strip from there was even easier than from the old buildings at the airport. Driving up the Strip towards Mandalay Bay, we not only passed the "welcome to fabulous Las Vegas" sign but also the site of the next LV Whole Foods. Which was, at one point, scheduled to open on 2/13 but they're clearly behind schedule.
One of the best things about this trip was that, unlike some others, we didn't have any extreme dud meals. I like to plan where we're going to eat. Okay, I'm pretty obsessive about it. And, especially now that we've been several times (this was our 6th trip together and my 8th), there's a growing list of favorites. I like to balance the places we know we love (Lindo Michoacan, Burger Bar) and new places we want to try. And also to keep some kind of slight glimpse of sanity to the pacing and progression of meals so that we don't leave LV feeling like Augustus Gloop or Mr. Creosote. But anyway, there are always one or two meals that remain open and end up getting decided on-the-fly. Sometimes this works out and you end up by chance w/ something good. We wandered into a nice little deli in Luxor where I had a great chopped liver sandwich on our first trip back in 98. A few trips ago we discovered that there's usually no wait/no reservations needed for the bar area at Spago in Forum Shops at Caesars and that's become one of our fallback options. Sadly gone now (displaced by the sprawling Barney's) is the infelicitously named Tsunami (at Venetian) -- another chance discovery where I had some of the best unagi I've ever tasted. But sometimes the magic doesn't work and you end up at the 24-hour coffee shop at the Trop. Or the Sahara buffet. Or the vaguely Hawaiian themed burger joint in Desert Passage (now Miracle Mile).
All of which is a much longer than I'd planned intro to our Monday night dinner at Noodle Shop, at Mandalay. Was it stunningly great? No. But it was a nice meal and pretty high up on the comfort-food scale. At least if you're idea of comfort food is Asian noodles. I had one of the specials, flank steak and fish ball soup noodles. The soup was just insanely rich and wonderful. Very very beefy. Good noodles. Lots of big pieces of steak. And the fish balls, while strange (to me) texturally, were very good, particularly along with everything else. It was an enormous portion too. Definitely recommended, esp. if you're staying down in the four corners area.
(next time: sushi (this time for sure) and a meatloaf sandwich)

Started reading Leaving Reality Behind which is about the struggle between etoy and e-Toys. Am enjoying it muchly. But there was one little quibbly thing that bugged me well out of proportion to its importance in the book. Which is to say, it has almost none. It's a tossed-off reference, possibly actually made by one of the members of etoy, which cites Chumbawamba as the source of the line "they think it's funny turning rebellion into money." Fail! The line is from "(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais" by the Clash. It's possible that one of the etoy guys misremembered where the quote came from. But I think one of the authors, or one of their editors, could've checked the reference and gotten it right.

Last week's trip to Vegas was one of the most fun evah. Okay, maybe not quite as memorable as '06 (no wedding & no friends with us this time...) But still damn fun. Sarah's already talked about the awesomeness that is Lotus of Siam. I'm certainly not qualified to discuss whether it's the best Thai restaurant in the country but I have been to Thai restaurants in 6 cities and LoS was far and away better than any Thai food I've ever eaten previously.
The food portion of the trip got off to a great start with our lunch on Monday at Burger Bar. Because we'd just gotten off the plane, we weren't up to exploring the menu much so we just had basic burgers. I had mine with bacon, mushrooms & provolone. Altho, in one of the few disappointments of the week, they'd changed the menu since we were there last time and no longer had the lamb burger. Which I'd been looking foward to. Ah well. The angus beef burgers were great. Oh, and the sweet potato fries. And a very nice Sin City Amber to go with. I'd been hoping we'd get back for a second meal and a chance to try their sliders. But it didn't work out. Again, ah well...
(next time: noodles (oodles, thereof) and sushi)

Dja miss me? Well, I'm back whether y'all did or not. Photos and write-ups of last week's trip to Vegas will be forthcoming, as soon as my brain stops trying to kill me. This has been one of the worst trips in terms of return flight jetlag. Not sure if it's due to us coming back later in the day than usual, or something else. Oddly enough, I didn't find the in-Vegas jetlag nearly as bad as it has been other times.

In the meantime, here's some Tom Lehrer:

Just got back from an amazing night out. We went to see Video Soul: Wattstax to the Avant Garde. This was part of Duke's Soul Power series, as was the King Britt show 2 weeks ago. A really good crowd tonight -- even bigger than for Sylk 130. Lots o' XDU types, our friends S & D and some out-of-town guests of theirs, Charo... prolly some other folks I'm forgetting. Anyway. DJ Spooky put on an insane fucking performance. He was live-mixing audio and video, including clips from Wattstax, lots of 60s Stax/Volt soul stuff (Otis Redding, Booker T. etc), some Motown, plus hiphop, jazz, funk, and more more more. I think the most amazing part was this extended percussion mashup built around a drum break and a clip from a Jackie Chan movie. Mere words cannot do it justice. A mindblowing event.

After the show, we went back to Watts w/ S, D, C & C. Not nearly as insane tonight, but still a good late night crowd. This time Sarah had the grilled cheese and I had the hot ham and cheese sandwich. Actually, it came out as a turkey and cheese. Basically a panini. Very good, even w/ the substition. Next time, though, I'll probably go back to the sliders. We also had the ice cream sandwich for desert -- toasted coconut ice cream w/ chocolate cookies. Really really good. Maybe not quite as good as the red velvet cupcakes but not far off. Also got to try a taste of the deep-fried chicken gizzards. Which were actually quite good; If I didn't know they were gizzards I don't think I'd have guessed. I'm not sure what I would've guessed. And I'm not sure I'd want a whole order to myself. But they are proof of the awesome power of deep-frying.

So, yeah, I think my sinuses are trying to kill me. Well, perhaps not kill but at least seriously wound. As a result, I'm sleep-deprived and even more scattered (and crankier) than usual. Fair warning.

Here's some NY Fashion Week coverage. There's also decent coverage at the NYTimes but I'm feeling to lazy to go link to that. I guess that means that the latest season of Project Runway is about to wrap up which means it might be out on DVD by the end of the year. Maybe. Did see Tim Gunn on A Daily Show recently. I think it was the night of the big Stewart/Colbert/O'Brien kerfuffle. Which, if you haven't seen it, was completely brilliant. I'm sure the Stewart and Colbert segments are on the Comedy Central site. The finale (from O'Brien's show) was up on YouTube as of yesterday, but I suspect it might get taken down at any time. Parts of it were used at the "moment of zen" on Tuesday but it's worth tracking down the whole thing.
On a related note, I was somewhat surprised to see Grant Imahara roll out his Tim Gunn impression on this week's Mythbusters. I wonder just how much cross-over there is between the Mythbusters audience and the Project Runway audience. Sarah said she thinks it's more than I'd suspect. And I think she's probably right.

I forgot to mention my absolute fave Super Bowl commercial: Charles Barkley and Dwayne Wade for T-Mobile. I appreciated that it, unlike pretty much ever other SB ad, actually paid off an ongoing ad series. Plus it was one of the few, I thought, that took advantage of being 60 seconds long. Most ads these days are 30 seconds and a lot of the longer ones during the SB felt padded (the Shaq jockey ad and the Naomi Campbell/dancing lizards ads were particularly egregious in that regard). But the Barkley/Wade ad used the longer time to really hit the "repetition is the key to humor" button. Plus a minute of Barkley basically free-associating ("I don't wanna look fat in HD" "do you like popsicles?" "you're not going into a damn tunnel") is comedy gold. And the cuts back to Wade looking increasingly frustrated (yeah, Chuck) and falling asleep. I laughed more during that spot than any two others.

Oh and hey, it's super duper fat Tuesday. If you're in a voting state, I hoped you dragged yrself out and voted. Or had some gumbo. Or some pancakes.

XDU wrrld music top 10 (week ending 03 feb 08)

Venus on Earth :: Dengue Fever
Learn How to Respect :: Culture Brothers
Nova Estaçao EP 1 & 2 :: Da Cruz
Afreecanos :: Omar Sosa
Rumba Palace :: Arturo Sandoval
From the Badlands :: Papo Vazquez' Pirates Troubadours
Black Mirror: Reflections in Global Musics :: various
Charanga Chango :: Bobby Matos
Papa Mambo :: John Santos Quintet
Hera Ma Nono :: Extra Golden

this week's video feature: Omar Sosa

Second-half Super Bowl wrapup: the ads were much less interesting, I thought. Barely rose above the "meh" level. The Coke ad with the Macy's balloons fighting for a Coke balloon was really impressively well done but didn't grab me at all. I did get a laugh from the sight of Jim Carville and Bill Frist riding Segways around DC. But even an ice cold cola beverage cannot make me forget that Carville is an asshole and Frist is pure evil. Also there was a creepy talking baby in the E-Trade ads, and that's never good. Plus an offensive ethnic stereotype-fest for Bud Light, those horrible "Engrish"-speaking panda cartoons for whatever-the-fuck company they were shilling. Oh, and Adam Sandler's doing some kind of Borat rip-off for his next movie. Speaking of movies, hey... Robert Downey, Jr. as Iron Man. That's decent casting, I think. Tony Stark always seemed like the brooding, depressed, heavy-drinking sort of billionaire arms dealer/industrialist.

Hey, how 'bout them Gints?

Downside of the Patriots losing, tho, is that now we'll have to spend another damn year listening to the '72 Dolphins completely failing to shut the fuck up anytime anyone wins more the 5 games in a row.

After the first half of the Super Bowl, I'd say it's a pretty uninspiring crop of ads this year. I liked the FedEx giant carrier pigeon ad. That one, and the Bud Light fire breathing ad were the only ones that actually made me laugh. The obligatory Bud cute animal ad, with the Dalmatian helping the Clydesdale train (in best Rocky stylee) was cute, and it gets bonus points for not having the animals talk. But it was nothing I'm going to remember long term. Pretty much everything else, my reaction was "you spent millions of dollars for THAT?"

Yesterday's edition of Mondo Mundo: thee Radio Program was indeed a mostly-reggae affair, with a bit of ska and calypso thrown in. I had a good time. I was also surprised to see just how many reggae CDs I've reviewed for the station over the years. I mean, I know I've been reviewing CDs for a while. But I don't think of myself as particulary knowledgable about reggae. In my memory, I was the reviewer of last resort, mostly only writing up CDs when no one else was available to take them on. Either that happens more often than I thought, of my memory is a bit skewed.

Also on the agenda from yesterday: we finally got to watch Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Excellent movie. I'm sorry we didn't catch it in the theaters last summer where I'm sure it was mighty impressive. Especially the climactic naval battle. I read this morning that they started shooting the movie w/o a finished script and it kinda shows. But not in a really bad way -- the movies all have this kind of shambolic energy where you just roll with whatever's happening and eventually it'll end up making sense. And they all have way better acting than necessary for a big action blockbuster -- particularly Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush, who always seem to be having too much fun. Plus, y'know... pirates.
Interestingly, even though the movie's the end of the trilogy it also sets up another sequel. There don't appear to be any current plans to make that movie

A recent post by Jason0x21 raised a sidebar issue, and generated some excellent comments, on the issue of what it means to be a grown-up these days. It is, I think, all too easy to fall prey to the delusion that there's a timeline for your life that is "normal" and to feel that you're coming up short if you're not living up to that false ideal. It's all bullshit, of course, and mostly just tap-dancing around the belief that there's Something Wrong With You if you're not a straight, white, married person with kids. Because that's the way everyone was back in the golden age of whenever-the-fuck now isn't. I feel like I've been lucky to know folks over the years who have made a number of different choices. Some worked. Some didn't. Some worked at first and then didn't. Some I'd try and some I wouldn't. But it all comes down to making your choices for yourself and not for some fake ideal that never existed in the first place anyway. This xkcd strip (linked to by one of Jason's commenters) says it better than I'm doing right now.

"there were never any good old days; they are today; they are tomorrow" - Eugene Hutz