Sheep Meadow, NYC

Angry Birds Scores

This is crack rock.

David Simon:

There are about 749 different shows, dramas and comedies, on television right now. Seven hundred and forty-eight of them are about the America that I inhabit, that you inhabit, that most of the viewing public, I guess, inhabits. There was only one about the other America. And it was arguing, passionately, about a place where, let’s face it, the economic rules don’t apply in the same way. Half of the adult black males in my city are unemployed. That’s not an economic model that actually works.

Via Guernica

Brady!

Cultural Crapitude

My last post was about the death of a medium, a mode of commerce and an experience. As I inch a tad closer to my own death today in turning 32, I present to you evidence that American culture is also on deathwatch. If you've never seen this, I challenge you to complete it. 1:45 feels like one hour, 45 minutes.

The thing is that this isn't even funny. It's really sad and irresponsible. What?

Disruption and Death

Leslie and I were in the city last night, and we passed the moribund Borders on 2nd Ave. I didn't want to go in, but I'm glad we did. After the shock wore off, I started snapping pictures. Leslie didn't understand my fascination, so I explained.

Growing up in the 80s and being a young adult in the 90s, record and book stores are lodged deep in my memory. They were a huge part of my experience. If you lived in Maryland, you can't forget Kemp Mill:



Maryland also had a handful of decent used records stores, one of which I worked at right before going to college.

I didn't start really loving books until my sophomore year at UMCP (this would have been around 1998), and by that time Borders and B&N were already well-established and pushing out smaller bookstores (iTunes wasn't launched until 2001, FWIW). In fact, before too long B&N took over the UMCP Student Union book store. This was very controversial at the time, and I recall discussions about Starbucks in the libraries (did this happen? I'm unsure).

So with the death of Borders, I reckon it's comeuppance. Later I'll be finishing up some Oscar Wilde on my Kindle. And while that device is really incredible, for kids being born now there is a vastly diminishing chance to have the experience of digging through racks at a record store or tilting one's head at 45 degrees to read the titles on the spines. Perhaps not even at a massive chain. I guess the opportunity won't go away completely, but it'll be much more rare.

Yay, cloud? I guess it's bittersweet.

Short video walk-through of Borders:

Kicking it off with the Dardenne Brothers.

Found two Dardenne movies on Netflix streaming yesterday. Will surely fire up one of them later today.

Boy toys v. girl toys

I have always felt this a landslide victory for boys. There exists some major exceptions, though.

Nothing like the important stuff.

Mom is going crazy over the pasta sauce my Dad just bought at the store. Everything is as it should be at Christmas.

Good times.

Brady.

Queens, am

Off to Maryland

Off to Maryland tomorrow for Christmas.  Love being able to take the train during such a hectic time of year.

More Boring Tests

Testing Twitterfeed. Haven't used Blogger in a while; learning some new ropes.

Mobile post

Just a test here. Giving mobile Blogger a whirl. :)

New Year's 2011

I've used Tumblr all year. Coming back here to Blogger, though, I like many of the changes. Some of the new templates are simple and nice. I still wish the act of posting was simpler.

Anyway, as usual I have a New Year's resolution. For 2011 I want to learn Spanish. I'm going to take a crack with Rosetta Stone. I hope I can stick to it!

Cross Post from Tumblr

http://cathedralavenue.tumblr.com/post/361920733/two-little-red-hens-nyc

Cross Post from Tumblr

http://cathedralavenue.tumblr.com/post/361806556/no-need-to-lie-im-enjoying-spartacus

Cross Post from Tumblr

Head over to Tumblr to read my thoughts on Fish Tank.

New Year's Resolutions First Check In

Things are going well. I have made no progress on my own writing or deciphering Kant and Hegel, but I am eating a lot better. I've taken aim at portion sizes, haven't had an entire soda, and can count the number of beers I've had on one hand. I feel very good already, and these are just baby steps.