To Wish for Impossible Things

Soy vey!

Thanks to my pal Jeff's iChat status, I learned that there's conclusive proof that soy makes you gay.

Technorati Tags: Gay, Soy

Mosoto

Facebook has launched a chat service called Mosoto (why did they give it a different name?).

I'm just trying it out now, and it seems pretty nice. Web-based, all AJAXy. Your friends are your buddies, and your networks are rooms. Makes sense.

None of my friends are on it yet. C'mon kids!

Technorati Tags: Facebook, Mosoto

Spray of Love

My favorite cheese of all time is Brin d'Amour, a Corsican sheep which is typically coated with rosemary and juniper berries. The name is variously translated, "a bit of love," "a wisp of love," and my personal favorite, "a spray of love." It's semi-soft, tangy, and the herb crust is divine. Cheese.com describes it very nicely

From the tiny island of Corsica comes the most romantic of cheeses: Brin d'Amour translates to 'little bit of love' and after the first bite, you're a goner. The cheese is rolled in dried rosemary with the occasional juniper berry and chili pepper for accent making it rustic, elegant, and delicate all at the same time. 'Rosemary is for remembrance' and Brin d'Amour is unforgettable. This cheese is also known as Fleur du Maquis.

I discovered Brin d'Amour at Oakville Grocer in Palo Alto about ten years ago. It was one of my staples, both for home and for gifts. I endeared myself to our pal Laelena Brooks by bringing it to her house. We'd fiendishly savor it while her dad slaved over a hot barbecue.

Sadly for me, my Corsican delight has become very scarce in these parts. So I was delighted to find it at Fairway the other night. A quick read of the label clued me in: It's unpasteurized. No wonder.

I brought the precious morsel home with me. Right now I'm savoring a Bit of Love on whole wheat crackers, accompanied by a Ridge zin. Welcome home to my old friend!

Technorati Tags: BrinDAmour, Cheese

Noah FIscher's Rhetoric Machine opens in Chelsea

While I was in New York, I got a note from Norman, announcing that his son Noah is having a show, entitled Rhetoric Machine, at the 5BE Gallery in Chelsea, beginning this week. A short walk from where we were staying!

Alas, I headed home this morning, but fortunately, Joan is returning to the City from her academic journey to Poughkeepsie, in time to go.

The opening is Thursday the 30th, from 6-8 PM. Check the PDF for more details.

Technorati Tags: NoahFischer, RhetoricMachine

NYC fun

Joan and I have had a great week in New York. Great food, entertainment, and family togetherness. I'm heading home soon, so before I forget everything (OK, I already forgot half of it, but Joan reminded me), I want to get it all down.

We've been so lucky so stay at a friend's apartment in Chelsea. It's given us a chance to explore the neighborhood, and as always, the subway's let us get anywhere else we need to go. I've tried to attend the Chelsea Shul a few times, but alas, no minyan.

Sunday
We had an early dinner at Annisa, then saw Chick Corea and the Leprechaun Band at the Bluenote.
Before the show, we ducked into Comedy Cellar on MacDougal St and caught a few acts.

Monday
I worked much of the day, so I had to squeeze in our fun around that.
We had lunch at The Half King, then dinner at P.J. Clarke's Sidecar with our cousins, Stephen and Debra
We caught some late night jazz at Ron Afif at the Zinc Bar.

Tuesday
Worked a bunch.
We saw the Ambroise Vollard exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum. Then over to the West Side for food shopping at H&H, Zabar's and Fairway. At night, we took in Almodóvar's latest, Volver

Wednesday
More work.
Level II (ouch!) yoga class at Iyengar New York.
Dinner at Esca.

Thursday
Thanksgiving with Joan's family on Long Island. Really fun, thanks guys!

Friday
We finally got to see the Bob Dylan show at the Morgan Library. Then we rejoined our cousins for a quick trip to SoHo. It was way too crowded for us, so we headed back to Chelsea and saw The History Boys, then had dinner at Francisco's Centro Vasco.
Later, we continued our comedy jag at Gotham Comedy Club.

Saturday
Lunch at The Cook Shop
Really fun party for Peter at his Mom's

Sunday
Today we're visiting our pal Graham Arader, then striking the set.

I'm heading home tomorrow. Speaking of which, in the category of "couldn't have done it without you", thanks to Francesca and Barb for taking care of Nora, and especially for the last-minute car errand. You da best.

Spam of consciousness

The gist of the article is that origami can be used to design and test engineering problems, from automobiles to aerospace industries.

The design is mostly done, so it maybe out within a day or two. Apparently there's an epidemic of accidents around town. Until then this monitor is thoroughly recommended.

Sounds like a good way to take over the world to me. Eventually we'll be through the "dark ages of internet" and people will wonder how we all put up with all this junk email floating around, until then though there's going to be some rage! Eventually we'll be through the "dark ages of internet" and people will wonder how we all put up with all this junk email floating around, until then though there's going to be some rage! It's definately worth a look, especially if you do have a brand you love.

I have to admit I'm not surprised about the rage. It's not clear if he had to use nuclear waste to get the two to group.

I mean of course they have, and obviously I've been exposed to it by the time I open the email!

I'll wait and see, nothing they said in the review totally discourages me.

just people having a good time and somehow it was the special sauce? The plural of thesaurus is thesauri. but I do get annoyed by it.

At present LCD's are generally in the hundreds of the second digit.

It's ultimately from Reuters so no doubt it's on other websites.

Oh well, guess we're trying to prove our ability to blend in with other stupid surveys. I remember back when it wasn't owned by Microsoft.

Alright so enough pre-amble what about the ad. No longer will there be a stigmatism about "wasting paper" while working on a project and preferring to have a physical copy in your hands rather then reading on-screen.
Don't piss off the masses!

one of lives little ironies. Have a visit even if you don't post some comments.
The guy standing at the bar side steps at the last minute and buys a beer.

So the other day I went online only to find they've redesigned the site a bit. It's ultimately from Reuters so no doubt it's on other websites. And btw, that word sounds silly. If it's supposed to be my thoughts I don't want to "write an essay" proof read it, edit it and post it.

We seem to have spats of productivity followed by some down time.

Ever since we installed a spell checker I've gone over past blogs in an attempt to fix up some of my terrible postings.

Time0

Dorion just sent out some internal release notes on some changes to our site. One caught my eye:

Stop displaying "last updated 13,400 days ago" and just say "No recent updates"

Some quick math verified that, for some number of blogs, we had recorded their last update as Time 0. January 1, 1970. The Unix Big Bang.

I thought, surely we can do better than "No recent updates". Maybe we should have a contest. I'll start.

• Last updated before Al Gore invented the Internet
• Last updated when The Beatles were still together
• Last updated when we were embroiled in a futile war that no one believed in...oh wait, that's now...
• Last updated when there was a man on the moon
• Last updated when U2 was a spy plane

Please tag your results Time0.

Technorati Tags: Time0

Joan on The New Verse News

War Rant, one of Joan's latest poems, just got picked up on The New Verse News, a site featuring progressive poetry. She got a nice note from the editor, cited here.

Nice work, Pook!

Technorati Tags: Joan Gelfand, TheNewVerseNews

Novello Quartet

Last year I mentioned that I'd heard a wonderful string quartet playing Mozart in the Montgomery BART. Quite some time afterwards, the cellist and violist contacted me to thank me for writing about them. I learned, however, that they'd been playing Haydn. Alas for my pride, but I certainly loved the music and the chance to experience it in live performance.

Last night I was treated to a full-length performance by the Novello Quartet. They played Haydn and Mozart, and thanks to some helpful remarks from the violist, Anthony Martin, I learned to appreciate the differences in their compositional styles.

The program included the second of Haydn's Opus 54 quartets, as well as his unfinished quartet, Opus 103. After intermission, we heard Mozart's "Dissonance" quartet, K. 465.

The Novello Quartet consists of first violinist Tekla Cunningham, second violinist Cynthia Miller Freivogel, violist Anthony Martin and cellist Elisabeth Reed. All are accomplished performers with early music groups in the Bay Area and elsewhere. As a group, they communicate extraordinarily well, never missing an entrance or cadence. They play on period instruments, gut strings and all, producing a soothing and mellifluous tone.

One of the nicest aspects of the evening was the venue, Ellen Webb's yoga studio in Oakland. It's an intimate setting accommodating a few dozen people, with lots of wood to soften the sound. The studio is attached to the home of Stephanie Weisman of The Marsh fame, and her husband Richard DiLeo. Stephanie has been organizing chamber performances in the studio for some time, and I can't wait for the next one.

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Delightful!

Sep 17, 2006 by event

Novello Quartet

★★★★★ I heard the Novello Quartet performing works by Haydn and Mozart at Ellen Webb's Yoga studio in Oakland on September 16th, 2006. It was a delightful experience, and I look forward to seeing them again soon!

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This hReview brought to you by the hReview Creator.

Technorati Tags: Haydn, Mozart, NovelloQuartet, StringQuartet

Just For You

Just For You
Originally uploaded by Earthman.

Back when we were in Dogpatch, we used to eat breakfast and lunch at Just For You on 22nd St. It's a great bakery and cafe where they're really sweet to you, unless you disobey the signs and use your cellphone. Fortunately for me, they were OK with me texting inconspicuously. I checked in, so Tantek got huevos delivered. I bought a dozen of their delicious beignets for the gang.

Just For You, nous vous aimons!