philly

Ads Added to Blinq

I'm not sure how long they've been up there, but I just noticed that Blinq has put up three spots for ads and they're all filled. A big banner just under the logo area and above the body text, a tower at right and a box at the bottom of the body section.

I hope he's getting a nice chunk of the revenue of that.

An Attytood Sighting

At last night's Drinking Liberally [new location at Tangier Lombard/18], I spotted Will Bunch of Attytood, the People Paper's blogger in chief. Didn't get a chance to say hey because I was busy chatting it up with the rest of the gang in the new space, but it was nice to see him out at this event.

Both he and Dan Rubin from the Inky's Blinq have been going out to see the people they write with out there in the world o' blogs and I like that. They're not just sitting in a room writing at us; they're right in the thick of it talking with us and openly discussing the things we're all thinking of as bloggers.

I should also add that I had my second HOOT sighting. And yes, he pronounces his name as if spelled out in all capitals. HOOT is a riot and I hope to see him and talk to him in the future.

I also chatted it up with Chris from Rowhouse Logic, we were able to chat without baking in the hot hot hot sun like Sunday, over a few nice glasses of primo beer [but they did run out of Boddington's which I wasn't happy about]. Susie from Suburban Guerrilla also made it out to the new location, smoke and all. I think she was more comfortable outside with less smoke; it was cooler outside as well which was where I set up camp for the last couple of hours I was there. And I got a chance to talk with Eligere from Noblesse OBlog, whom I had seen at several Chuck Pennacchio events in the past and at the last DL, but had not spoken to previously. Apparently her father has been photographing Philly for 50+ years and offered to introduce me the next time he's at DL, eggcellent!

After Driking Liberally

I think I may have had a drink or two more than I anticipated at DL tonight. We didn't watch the speech, but I'm sure it contained the words "Iraq" and "Progress" and "9/11" and other bullshit that he's spewed over and over again. Did anyone watch it closely?

Drinking Liberally: Bush Speech

I'm off to go join my fellow Liberals at Tangier [1801 Lombard St] at Drinking Liberally's new location. On the inagural night of the new venue, I hope that there will be a television so we can all watch the Bush speech tonight at 8p. Last I heard, ABC was going to carry it live and the other networks had not decided. I'm sure it'll be on cable.

Both Apocalyptic and Hopeful

Is it just me or was the caption of this NY Times article on Rev. Billy Graham's crusade in Queens this past weekend a little weird.

The Rev. Billy Graham, global ambassador for Christ and the most prominent American evangelist of the past century, concluded what might be his final American crusade yesterday with a sermon both apocalyptic and hopeful before a joyously polyglot throng in a New York City park.

Does the juxtaposition of the words "apocalyptic" and "hopeful" trouble anyone else out there?

Graham preached on how the end is near.

He simply cited a few national headlines - the disappearance of an 18-year-old Alabama girl in Aruba, the three children in New Jersey found dead in a car trunk last week - as evidence that end times are near.

"I believe today God is warning us," he said.

And fortunate for him, he's both very old and has the ear of a man with an itchy trigger finger who believes in the Rapture. And that trigger finger hovers above the button that travels with him at all times in a briefcase called "The Football" - kinda freaky.

With solid facts and examples like the Aruba girl and the three children found in the NJ car trunk, I'd say that the end of the world has been a long time coming. How many times has it been predicted that the world as we know it would end? Lots. All wrong. We will be long gone from this planet and solar system before all is over. We're just a blip on the screen in the big scheme of things no matter what religion you follow or don't follow.

Happy Birthday AK

My former apartmentmate turned travelstar AK turns twenty-five today joining the You're-Now-Closer-to-Thirty-Than-You'll-Ever-Be-to-Twenty-Club of which I've been a member since February 3^rd. Happy Birthday to you and make it back stateside in one piece from your seven months in South America so that I can kick your ass in Madden. Or whatever the youngins are playing these days. Maybe even go wilding. Yes, it's been a good long time since I've gone out wilding.

MoveOn in PA

I got an email from MoveOnPAC which upset me. It stated that MoveOn would be throwing their weight behind Bob Casey Jr. in the Pennsylvania U.S. Senate race for 2006. The email stated that MoveOn's PA members "overwhelmingly supported Casey in our online primary" from last week. That is really disheartening. I've read elsewhere that MoveOn has moved more in line with the DLC since Dean lost the Presidential bid, but for the MoveOn members of PA, who should all be very well versed in this incredibly important Senate race, to vote in favor of Casey over Chuck Pennacchio befuddles me.

It didn't help that MoveOn's initial email was not worded well and included what at first glance could look like an endorsement from Howard Dean when, in fact, it was not. See the differences in thought between Chuck, Bob and Santorum here [.pdf] and ask yourself who seems like the Progressive choice. Women's right to choose, the expansion of stem cell research, GLBT equal rights, stronger gun violence prevention laws, Congressional interference in judicial matters [Schiavo case] and the war in Iraq [for which Casey has not publically made a clear statement on.

I'm no one issue voter. I am a voter who votes for the candidate that most closely aligns with my own ideals in a primary and Casey clearly does not. Pennacchio does.

This email from MoveOnPAC is bittersweet. I'm glad that they're taking an early stance in this incredibly important race, but I'm saddened that they're not backing the right one.

And on a related note, at the Philly for Change picnic, I met an intern working on the Casey campaign. She described herself as an outright Liberal and said that the vast majority of the people working on Casey's campaign were the same. That just didn't register to me. I wanted to stick around and debate with her [she admittedly feels strongly against several of Casey's stances], but I didn't want to just rant and then have to leave prematurely due to the delicious vegan dinner I was to help prepare later that evening. So I kept my mouth shut and then I left, disgusted.

Mermaid Parade

One of NYC's events that I've always wanted to go to, but never got around to going to is the annual Mermaid Parade in Coney Island way the fuck out in buttfuck. I always love looking at the photos those awesome costumes induce. This shot is probably my favorite from this year. Some links:
Joe Holmes: Joe's NYC, flickr
Jake Dobkin: Bluejake
Addie: flickr
The general flickr tag

I know there's tons more out there, go search for them and enjoy.

I think the closest to this event I ever got was going to the Village Halloween Parade a few years back. Now that is a blast and I can tell you first hand.

Vegan Dinner

Lady cooked up a storm Sunday night for an incredible all-vegan dinner. Our friends Jodi and Pat are vegans and she thought that it would be nice to be able to cook them an entire meal they could enjoy without having to hassle with questions of ingredients. It turned out wonderfully.

Lady got a vegan cookbook from her sister for Christmas. It's by some fancy-schamcy place out in San Francisco [I forget the name]. She's been dying to make use of it's gourmet dishes and she finally did. I helped make the dish pictured above: sliced and layered heirloom tomatoes with avocadoes, two kinds of basil and arugula drizzled with some yummy dressing. Hard to eat, but very rewarding in taste. She also made a chickpea stew with sundried tomatoes, apricots, chianti and some other stuff I didn't see go in served on a crêpe [I made this too!] made from crushed almonds, chickpea flour, salt, pepper, oil, egg replacer and water. It was hard making the crêpes with those crushed almonds in them, not a normal crêpe consistency. That dish was topped with a pickeled topping consisting of diced orange, olives, onion, chili peppers and other goodies pictured here. For dessert was a yummy key lime pie pictured here made with key limes, avocados, crushed pistachio crust and topped off with a vegan mousse and poppy seeds.

Mmmmm. I'm getting hungry thinking about a few hours ago.

Astroturf Lobbying

I heard the term astroturf lobbying on Air America Radio last week sometime. The guy who said the term described it as fake grassroots activism with just a few big million-dollar doners and scattered little donors. I thought it was a funny term.