The FAQ for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas gets meta:
NOTICE: I really, really, really don't give a flying eff about girlfriends. I think that the whole concept is stupid and pointless. If you are having a problem with any girlfriend, please, don't hesitate to not ask me about them. I cannot give you a straight answer about any of them. There is a nice guide up on GameFAQs that tells you all about girlfriends.
Nick Kristof takes the Left Behind folks to task for being ridiculous and challenges them to a bet:
"if the events of the Apocalypse arrive in the next 10 years, then I'll donate $500 to the battle against the Antichrist; if it doesn't, you donate $500 to a charity of my choosing that fights poverty - and bigotry."
And I'm back.
And what a beautiful day in San Francisco to come back to. I pedalled myself out to beach and it was warm and clear the whole way.
One of the benefits of working in New York is that my daily commute time has been drastically reduced. The 12 hours of flight notwithstanding, this week I'm staying all of 5 blocks away from the office. Of course, those 5 blocks are from 46th & Broadway to 41st & Broadway.
Having the evening stroll home be through the heart of Times Square is a bit odd. Not a good time for quiet reflection.
There are some benefits. I can get a hot pretzel with spicy brown mustard any time I want. As an added bonus, they're heated in same incubator in which the hot dogs grow. So you don't have to eat the most questionable sausage on earth in order to get the smokey-flavor benefits.
Also, my block of 46th St. is home to the Billy Joel dance musical, the production of Beauty & the Beast and a giant Scientology retail center. Tough choice, there.
As noted on my previous trip to New York, they make a funny chai tea here. So I'm currently sipping cappuccino in a Village cafe where I can surreptitiously steal wifi from some anonymous hotspot. Cheers, cleverly-named open network called linksys.
I don't really drink coffee and haven't had the foamy kind since back in the day when me and others would trek out to busted ass cafes in suburbs of suburban St. Louis.
Sometimes there were open mic nights.
Strong memories coming offa these steamed beans on this caffeinated night in Manhattan.
Update: A guy just came in and went table-to-table trying to sell pocket calculators ... that didn't happen in St. Louis.
My hotel, the Paramount, is the most designed place I've ever slept in. The headboards are puffy, blow-ups of Dutch masterworks. I'm hungry for a little more substance and a little less style.
In particular, my room is super small and looks like it belongs in a miniaturized version of the set from the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey. I didn't sleep well last night because the bed's too hard and I kept bumping into a superannuated version of myself who kept stealing the covers.
On the plus side, the bathroom sink looks like a giant mechanical pencil tip.
So I've got that going for me.
The AZ Central's take on the recent Vibe awards fracas:
Hip-hopper punched at awards; puncher stabbed, stabber sought
So I'm off to New York City tomorrow for a little business. While there, I'm hoping to bring a little west coast joy to my downtrodden brethen out east.
You know, some laughs, some sunshine.
Some chopped up Nancy Sinatra videos. The usual.
Stephen Colbert explaining why those in the Red States voted for Bush because of gay marriage and terrorism ... despite not living near gay people or sites likely to be targetted in terrorist attacks:
We in New York are too close to the terrorism and the gay people. Only the Red States, with the advantage of a safe distance, can take in the whole picture.
I had a sober realization today. I'm not yet 30 years old, but 20 years of my life will be spent under Reagan-Bush administrations.
What's more, I think I'm now fondly nostalgic for Bush I. He was a fun, goofy guy, right? Listened to C&C Music Factory and such?
Ah, the 90s.
It figures that, after a night of obsessively refreshing FireFox tabs open on MSNBC, CSPAN and CNN, I'd find out about the Kerry concession from BoingBoing.
Bah.
