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Friday, April 11th, 2008
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12:53 pm - I keep visiting North Korea.
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For some reason, I keep having recurring dreams that I'm in North Korea. Kim Jong-Il is usually also prominently featured.
This time, I was in a hallway talking to officials. It seemed like I was stuck there or got there by accident and was concerned that I would not be allowed to leave. They assured me I would not be tortured or executed and were very friendly. My parents were also there with me.
The officials left and came back with an invitation to go on a weekend vacation with Kim Jong-Il via train. We were nervous but accepted.
We were taken via train to a house and sat in a green-walled room. There were nice couches and hors d'oeuvres. We spent most of the time watching TV. KJI sat on the far end of the couch. A couple officials were there as well.
My dad approached KJI and began to get into a discussion of world events. This made me very nervous, as I expected any disagreement to result in our arrest. Sure enough, a disagreement ensued and KJI turned to me and told me that "There is a very unreasonable man." or something like that. I explained some bullshit like, "He always gets that way when meeting new people." KJI repeated his statement. The situation seemed to dissipate.
I went into an adjacent room and three lovely NK women came out. I was to select one to 'entertain' me. I chose the second hottest one because she had more spunk. I think we really had a connection.
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(3 comments | comment on this)
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| Thursday, January 24th, 2008
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2:54 am
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again, beautiful sleep takes me, as it has done 11,256 times before and who knows how many times again.
And, I have good news: that gum you like is coming back into style!
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, July 24th, 2007
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2:57 am
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The Lady Comrade talks with the Comradina. What about is unimportant. Perhaps shoes, or salads, or Billy Joel, or weighty issues of the day.
Overheard by them, the Cowboy is holding forth: "Comrade Brother Party Chairman! I cannot believe you have, last week, in an inebriated state, enunciated my wishes for you, that is to say, to 'skull fuck that bitch at work', amongst these comradinas last week!"
"Dear Comrade Party Captain," I replied. "Though I do not remember the specifics of your complaint, this did indeed come up in conversation, and I do not recall your forbidding me to discuss this matter. But whatever, be at peace, for all of this was just in jest, and no one would be inclined to take it seriously."
At this point, the Lady Comrade steps forth. "Comrade Cowboy," she says, "Please expound on this matter, so that we may all gain the fruits of your wisdom on gender politics."
"Ma'am," Cowboy begins. We all take a step back. "Ma'am, the root of this issue is how we choose to shod ourselves. You see, a time came when women wanted to go to church, and the men were less so inclined. After much nagging, us men-folk were persuaded to let our women wear shoes, so as to be able to walk to church by themselves. And in the blink of an eye, they were suddenly going to school. Before you knew it, by Elvis they knew their letters. And we had no rest, indeed: As us men-folk were processing these unprecedented advancements, our women-folk where trotting off to the voting booth! Now, lo and behold, Hillary Clinton is about to become President of these United States!"
The Lady Comrade and her Comradettes were aghast. They spoke among themselves, "Just when you thought you knew a guy!" and similar such pronouncements were heard from the parking lot. Engines started. Tabs were paid.
Later, hunched over my spirits, I pondered these events. I did not know how much these women were truly offended, or if they were offended at all. All I know is that the Comrade Cowboy is, of all people I have ever met, the most generous, well-read, unique and noble man I have ever met, and that no politically correct ultra-sensitive man ("Berkeley bed-wetting Commie bastard", he would say) I have ever encountered actually, in his gut, respects people more than Comrade Cowboy.
You can't judge anyone by what they say or even by what they believe or say they believe. You can only judge people by what they do.
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Thursday, July 19th, 2007
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12:19 pm
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Last night I was in some sort of internment camp. The inmates were all people of my age and the camp had a vibe of being vaguely fascist.
There was a woman I was interested in there. There was a hierarchy among the inmates and I was told to not pursue her. I don't think I listened.
I was having a conversation with two guys in a dusty lounge (we were free to move around the compound). A short fat Gestapo agent walked in with a small, mean dog. He walked over to me. I asked him what this was about. He said something in German and I figured out he was commanding the dog to bite me. He did all of this very calmly. The dog did not bite. The guy walked out with the dog, saying something else in German. I went after him a bit, calling out, "Excuse me, sir! Can I have a word?" I don't know what I wanted to talk to him about.
There was some sort of party being planned for the aforementioned woman. Some dude at the camp was going through menus. I thought these places were shitty internment-camp-places but then learned we were allowed to go outside the camp on occasion. I thought it was strange that we were being kept there but yet we were apparently paid or otherwise how could we afford to go out to fancy dinner? I believe an Italian restaurant was decided on.
This all ended up with me hiding from the guards, because, as it turns out, I was not allowed to go and they wanted to make sure I didn't.
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Saturday, June 23rd, 2007
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2:48 am - So,
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I drive home at night and witness the quadrillions of photons coming off the backs of a multitude of vehicles all build by human hands..
Yeah, you all know the drill.
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(12 comments | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007
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1:47 am - Actually, I'm going to post more of that.
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> Is there anyone working in the States who's doing something that you particularly like or dislike?
...
But when I was in Chicago, I also went to Hot Doug's, and it's amazing. There's a queue like you've never seen. Doug [Sohn, the owner] has got one eye on the kitchen, one eye on the room, and he's taking their money. I loved him -- he's an old-fashioned restaurateur. Even that one, it isn't just hot dogs. They are hot dogs with a difference. [Sohn] has a sausage maker, they work out the recipes -- so you might have a sausage with rabbit, with mustard, and with the onions and cheese on top. What a lunch! But you know, and here's the thing: That boy serves a hot dog -- and a great hot dog, let's not forget that -- but at 4 o'clock he closes the door and he goes home to his family. He doesn't leave anyone else to look over it. Interesting, isn't it? He has the same philosophy as a great chef.
> You mentioned Alinea, and that brings up something else I wanted to ask you. What do you think of "molecular gastronomy"?
Not much. Chefs have always been scientists. We've been doing it for years, we just never branded it. Look at pastry -- it's chemistry. My friend Heston Blumenthal [chef and owner of England's the Fat Duck, a molecular gastronomist], I mean, Heston knows my views. He makes a veal stock in a pressure cooker, for whatever reason. He'll give me some scientific explanation. The difference between the two stocks? Zero. The stock is what you put in it, right or wrong.
Molecular gastronomy, I don't see the point of it. It's a stamp, it's a label -- let's get a few column inches, let's make it interesting. My wife's mother, without a doubt, is one of the great chefs. When I eat her food, it's the most delicious food. She has no training. She just had a childhood in '30s Spain; she was brought up by the nuns. But when I sit and eat her food -- delicious. Fabulously seasoned. Great textures. It's peasant food. What I love is it gives me an insight into the world that she came from. She's eating today still what she did as a little girl being brought up by the nuns. This molecular gastronomy, it's soulless.
> I don't know if you've heard about this, but there's been a little controversy recently involving chef Wylie Dufresne, of WD-50 here in New York, and Marcel Vigneron, who was one of the chefs on "Top Chef," an American reality show. Basically, Wired magazine asked Vigneron to demonstrate a recipe for a feature, and he closely re-created one of Dufresne's signature dishes -- a "cyber egg" made from carrot-cardamom puree and coconut milk -- without any attribution or credit. Do you think a chef's recipes should be protected as intellectual property?
You can't reinvent the wheel. Everyone takes from everybody. How many people are serving foie gras on their menu? How many? How many people do a soupe de poisson? Go to France -- a pigeon en croute de sel, a loup de mer en croute de sel. We live in a world of refinement, not invention. It's the greatest compliment he can be given, this guy. If someone takes one of your dishes and does it, it's flattery. For you to get pissed off because he didn't acknowledge you is ego. It's all too political really, isn't it? I mean, we're fucking chefs.
> Would you encourage other people to become chefs?
I'd recommend any young man, or girl, to go into the industry if that's what they wanted, if they're prepared to make that sacrifice. I think it's the best industry in the world. We're in the business of selling fun, a night out. Food and wine are just a byproduct. You could go to a great restaurant tonight, and if you don't like the environment, you're feeling a bit intimidated, it doesn't matter how good the food is, your chances of going back are quite slim. When you go out, you want to sit down, you want to feel comfortable. If you feel comfortable, you can be yourself. Once you can be yourself, you can really start to enjoy the food.
> Another question I have to ask: Are you going to be eating at the London [Gordon Ramsay's restaurant in New York] while you're here?
What's the point? I've heard very bad things, from people with great palates. And you know, it doesn't interest me. If I wanted to eat that man's food, I'd do it in London. It's where I live.
> Why'd you agree to do the new "Hell's Kitchen"?
I think watching Mr. Ramsay on TV does a lot of damage to the industry, and I think it would keep a lot of people not wanting to go into the industry. It would make a lot of parents form the opinion that this was not a good world for their child to go into, and, you know, kitchens are wonderful places. They're special places, and I think if the viewers are going to see a kitchen, then they should have a true insight of what a kitchen is like. OK, it's going to be 10 celebrities; their cooking abilities are limited, but that's fine. I'm there to inspire people, not belittle people. It's got to be educational, inspirational, interesting, because if it's not, what's it all mean?
> But when you were in the kitchen, you had something of a reputation for being ...
I was hard. Very hard. But remember, I could set foot into a kitchen without having to raise my voice. That's the difference. Most people are scared when I walk into a kitchen. I'm quite a big guy. I taught myself how to cast my presence, and when you shout or raise your voice, it's all to keep them concentrated, doing the job, don't stray. What do most chefs start doing? They start yelling at 8:30, 9 o'clock, don't they? Why? Because they've lost control. Illogical. As soon as you've lost control, they know you've lost control, right or wrong. Shout from the beginning, keep pushing them. It's got to penetrate them.
> What about on the other side of the house, when you kicked people out of the dining room?
I never kicked people out. I asked them to leave. We didn't want their money, we didn't want them.
You're a waiter, a customer tells you to fuck off, pushes you out of the way, and your boss does nothing -- what do you think? He's saying the check's more important than you. [As the chef] you don't have that right; you have to look after your staff.
How many times have you been in a restaurant when there's a bigger table, and they're swearing, they're being loud, they're being rowdy, and you're sitting there with your girlfriend, having a nice dinner or other occasion. What does a restaurateur do? Number one, you have to warn them, ask them to quiet down. If they don't, they've got to go. I think of the whole room, not of one table. Too many restaurateurs compromise their position for the check.
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(comment on this)
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1:42 am - salon.com interview with "Marco Pierre White, Britain's original celebrity chef"
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> What do you think of the American food scene right now?
I think America is very exciting. I've never seen anyone who obsesses about produce more than the Americans. Their love for produce is extraordinary. And that's where it all begins. Mother Nature is the true artist. Even when I was in Seattle, walking the markets there, just the pride with which people present their food, just the way they stack it and present it and show it off, it's fantastic. I think America, the future of America, is fantastic.
> It's interesting, what you're saying about the produce. Because it seems like when I go to France, even in the lowliest shop or restaurant, everything is good, but here you have to seek it out.
Well, [the French] take it for granted because it's all around them. It doesn't ignite their imagination. In America, the produce ignites the imagination. I'm sure when you go to France, it fucking blows your brains. They're not sitting on their laurels, the French. They're just so fucking good at what they do -- it's like a three-star restaurant, it doesn't have to change. Working in a restaurant which wins three stars is exciting, [but so is moving] from one, two and three. And it's like America in the world of gastronomy is somewhere that's just won its second Michelin star or its first Michelin star. They're fighting, they want to improve.
The hunger of your chefs, your young boys, is extraordinary. I was at a book signing the other night, and I see these young chefs with pale faces, looking anemic. When I shake their hands I can feel their calluses. You can see they're tired. You don't really see that in England anymore. It's a different world. They give themselves, those young boys. I didn't have to ask them if they were chefs, I could just see it. Just look at the eyes, just look at the lines in their faces. It's a cook's life. And the Americans are living that gastronomic dream at this point in time. Americans, I've always said, they sit in your restaurant, and they want to talk. They're inquisitive. They're not just there for dinner, they're buying into the whole dream. Over the years I've cooked for many, many Americans, and their thirst for knowledge, their thirst to understand, to meet you, is enormous.
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(comment on this)
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| Friday, May 11th, 2007
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1:49 am - The Desert Inside.
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"The Graveyard is full of important men
Who could not be spared,
Yet were in the end."
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I sit here late at night listening to the music of my youth, and truly it is my youth: I know by now that things will never be as they were. I sit here and blast this loudly to the point where I cannot make out the individual layers. It's empowering. It's depressing. I sit here and I think about how I never really listen that much to this stuff anymore but it still has such a comfortable feeling, like I hear this in my subconscious constantly every day but never realize it. It resonates around and I never hear the lyrics but I don't care what they say, because it somehow feels raw and emotional and at the end of the day (such as now), it makes me proud to be a member of the Human Race, who somehow figured out how to get from banging on the walls of caves to producing this resonating, beautiful layered music which will, for better or for worse, be with me until the day when I am calling upon God with repentance in one hand and a rivet in the other.
Let us all be Comrades and chip away bit by bit that which aggravates us.
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(3 comments | comment on this)
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| Friday, April 27th, 2007
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6:11 am
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I have extremely much to be thankful for. An excellent family, excellent friends, a decent job. In contrast to many depressing ramblings here I feel the need to balance it out with the positive. I have lived and am living a better life than most of humanity for its existence, which permits me the luxury of complaining about a variety of trite issues. Things could be better; when is this not true, but things could be much, much worse. At the end of the day, I have a lot to be happy about.
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(5 comments | comment on this)
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| Sunday, April 22nd, 2007
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7:07 am
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In Heaven His throne is made of gold,
And he ordered His testament in stone,
A throne, from which I'm told
All history does unfold,
Now down here it's made of wood and wire,
And my body is on fire,
And God is never far away.
- Nick Cave.
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Wednesday, April 18th, 2007
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5:50 am
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Now I'm calling to God
From pit's very bottom
I pray He forgives
Every sin I've forgotten.
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(comment on this)
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| Monday, April 16th, 2007
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1:11 pm - rv nation?
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Our ride, we travel
Across the plains
Our home, our mobile
Ever-changing Avalon
Who stands with us?
Do we stand alone?
Caged and fat, yet bound to none
In this, our mobile home!
Because potholes appear
Like Brownian motion
Like m-branes colliding
Because potholes appear
Our souls dividing
Was it there before last week?
Will it be right there tomorrow?
Will we avoid disaster just in time?
Will our wheels pop in sorrow?
We are rising, rising, rising above
Vindicated, finally free
God plays dice and so shall we
In our ever-changing Avalon
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(comment on this)
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| Friday, April 6th, 2007
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2:31 am - I will not be replaced by the Guided Man!
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"Yulia Tymoshenko bloc addresses President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko with the requirement to protect immediately Chairman of Constitutional Court of Ukraine Ivan Dombrovskyi from insolent, rough, illegal pressure from the side of Prime Minister of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych and ex-chairman of Verkhovna Rada Oleksandr Moroz", - says the statement. "The aim of Yanukovych-Moroz is obvious: to remove Ivan Dombrovskyi from the post of judge and replace him by the guided man. This is the exact explanation of speculative bustle of coalition members about Constitutional Court, in particular, really provocative statement of Yanukovych about the expected retirement of the Court chairman", - the document underlines.
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Sunday, March 25th, 2007
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4:35 am
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Fate, She hears us!
But She doesn't listen very hard!
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"But, but! He said I was damned!"
"He is the devil. He lies."
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(comment on this)
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| Saturday, March 24th, 2007
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2:19 am
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| Saturday, March 10th, 2007
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4:37 am
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We have loved and lost and lost and loved, and those who we thought we had not loved, we do.
We have triumphed over the effervescence of our fortitude; we have scaled the walls of Sparta, and smote therein those who would challenge us. We have declared our willingness for bloodshed, but such acts shall not be dealt merely in response to words (indeed, we are 'hollaback' comrades) but as a reaction against those who would harm our kith and kin, our friends and compatriots.
What shall we say of the evening? I sat and beheld creative people; I sat and beheld those who would fornicate at our hallowed house of revelry, they who dishonor our holy grounds with drunken saliva washing over each others' necks like a river of filth cascading down Mount Satan. They whisper soft words unintelligible yet all I head is the confused mumblings of children who promise never again to shit the bed while mommy prepares another nipple for the greedy feast. Other ladies enter to deliver propaganda, black upon white sketches of a whelpling smoking pot, a trendy name and a musical disaster from Down Under.
We smile and nod and nod and smile and the Earth continues around the sun as milestones pass and in a hundred years your children will be drinking me out of a glass, breathing me through the air and eating me through your food. If you disbelieve this, ask yourself if Napoleon was into golden showers the next time you are at the water fountain.
Or maybe our Little Corporal wants YOU to be into golden showers.
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Monday, March 5th, 2007
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2:20 pm
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| Tuesday, February 27th, 2007
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11:44 am
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I can't be cool with domain names like Keith.
:(
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Thanks for your inquiry about registering a domain under the ER top level domain.
The current policy is that domain names are limited to businesses or persons actually in Eritrea and application for a domain name must be made to Zerai. currently there are only two domains under `.com.er', a single `.edu.er' domain, and a bunch of `.gov.er' domains. there are actually over 100 subdomains under these domains, but domains directly underneath ER are fairly tightly controlled.
To register new domain names under ER, you must talk to the administrative contact. Here is the contact information:
Zerai Araham
E.I.S.A.
Government Building
Asmara, 1141
ERITREA
Tel: (++291) 1-114.480
FAX: (++291) 1-120.650
Email: teweldeg@GEMEL.COM.ER
Eritrea does not yet have a direct internet connection. domain names are currently being used for the delivery of email.
For more information about the domain look at http://www.punchdown.org/rvb/email/index.html
thanks,
craig harmer
technical contact
ER top level domain
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(3 comments | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, February 20th, 2007
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1:22 am
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Anyone who reads this man's words, from the most barely literate pauper to the most exalted academic, becomes smarter simply by doing so.
That's why I love this guy.
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(5 comments | comment on this)
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| Saturday, February 17th, 2007
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3:55 am
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I've got the raisin beans
From New Orleans
I'm going down by the river
Where it's warming lean
I'm gonna have a drink
And walk around
I've got a lot
To think about.
Oh yeah.
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(comment on this)
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