philly

NYT Blogs

I didn't know that the NY Times had blogs.

On the homepage, I saw links to these blogs

1. The Pour by Eric Asimov about wine
2. Diner's Journal by Frank Bruni
3. The Walk-Through their Real Estate blog

When did these start? Is there a centralized location where one can find all of their blogs?

Morimoto Restaurant

So my sister and brother in law came down to visit me here in Philly several months ago and they went to Morimoto. They were kind enough to give me a big fat gift certificate and Lady and I went out for my birthday in February. And now, we finally put up a review on the food blog.

I think I've mentioned how I want a lobster Caesar salad like the one I had six weeks ago about once a day since. Best meal I can recall ever having up to the dessert. Not that the dessert wasn't good, it just didn't blow me away as the rest of the meal did.

I haven't been able to get a photo I'm really happy with for Morimoto. I always seem to be there when the sun is at an odd angle overlooking Chestnut St. But this one will do for now. It'll probably be replaced at some point. Maybe a long exposure night shot one of these days if I get around to lugging my tripod over there.

Pennacchio on Vichy Dems

I just read through this post over at Vichy Dems via eRobin's post here. Pennacchio writes:

Even if my fellow citizens could stomach party paternalism, Charles Schumer is not Pennsylvania's daddy. The sum total of his knowledge about Pennsylvania is a James Carville witticism: two big cities with Alabama in between. Absolute rubbish. While the countryside is mostly red, Pennsylvania's many historic cities and towns have deep and abiding blue roots. What I hear over and over, from Altoona to Dingmans Ferry, from Lancaster and York to Allentown and Wilkes Barre, is that a couple decades ago, local Republicans got aggressive and started issuing threats. They told local business men and women to change party or at least shut up, or they'd be put out of business. And people got cowed, and shut up. They stopped talking about politics to their patrons, to their coworkers, to their neighbors; but their hearts never changed.

They held to their progressive convictions, just quietly. The Bush administration and its insane excesses changed all that. Everyone's had enough and the time for being quiet is over. What Democrats all across the Commonwealth are discovering is that they are not alone; they were never alone. So they meet in coffee houses and brew pubs, in places with names like Aroma Borealis, and they organize. In the last election, Lancaster City swept out its Republican Mayor, City Council and lower level officers and replaced them with a bunch of upstart citizens, most of whom had never held public office. Dover, in York County, jettisoned its "intelligent design" school board. These events are neither isolated nor coincidental.

I've only lived here in PA for about twenty months now. Barely been outside Philadelphia. But I hear this Pennsyltucky phrase and "The T" thrown around all the time. It's debunked. I hear more and more how people are just fed up with this bullshit line.

Thomas Jefferson often said that each generation must wage revolution anew and, you know, he was right. We've grown complacent. Our government has grown complacent and it long ago stopped representing the interests of the average citizen. Unlike my future colleagues, I have not, do not and will not take PAC money, so I don't need to worry about offending my sponsors. Our Senate has 63 lawyers, a nice assortment of former CEOs and CFOs, but not a single trained historian like myself. And it shows. We need to stop taking short cuts and start taking the long view.

The bottom line is this: you can't change politics without changing politics. Our nation, our Constitution, and our world is in crisis. But all great societies know that from crisis comes opportunity. Before us, in this primary, is the opportunity to reject the fear-driven boss politics of Charles Schumer and friends, and more importantly, to embrace the people-first politics of true-blue progressive Democrats. You remember those folks from the history books . . . well their politics have, and once again will, protect and extend civil liberties, promote genuine security, and restore accountable, wise, and efficient government.

Chroist, this sounds like the real deal, eh?

Learn more about what Senator Pennaccchio will fight for here.

MySpace Clunky

Is it just me or is MySpace incredibly clunky? Uglier and clunkier than Friendster I'd say.

Philly Future Featued Blog Nomination

Philly Future is asking for the input of Philly bloggers and Philly blog readers: nominate your favorite blog[s] to be featured on Philly Future.

What does being 'featured' mean? Well, it's nice. You get your own little block at the top of the Philly Future homepage which lists your most current posts giving it a good deal of exposure to the thousands of people who visit Philly Future every day.

Go sign up for an account at Philly Future [it's free and painless] and nominate your favorite reads. But not this one. I was featured way back when already.

National Lawyers Guild Panel Discussion

It was a good turnout last night for the Philadelphia Chapter of the National Lawyer's Guild panel discussion on what's going on right now in regards to the wiretapping of American citizens and residents. It featured Mary Catherine Roper, a staff attorney for the Philadelphia Chapter of the ACLU and Dr. Chuck Pennacchio, professor of History at the Universtiy of the Arts and also one of three candidates seeking the nomination on the Democratic ballot for US Senate here in PA.

I took a bunch of notes and don't have time just yet to write it all up in a thoughtful manner, but Philly IMC was there too and they have a nice succinct post here already.

Urinal Blog Commenting

Everyone's a critic. First spotted last week by the sharp eyed Sir Oolius, a back and forth on the bathroom wall above the urinal at the home of Philly's Drinking Liberally, Tangier [1801 Lombard St].

Nobody has scaled the wall to scrawl "First" nor "Buck Fush" just yet. Nobody has fessed up to it either.

Digg This

Another blog from Philly.com?! Digging Out about your workplace desk basically. I wonder how long it will take db_cooper to rail on Mrs. Jane M. Von Bergen.

Brought to you by Blogspot!

I wonder if Philly.com will eventually have a cost-free blogspot blog about getting fired from the Inquirer or Daily News.

Pasta with Broccoli and Gorgonzola

Mmmm. Lady has been on a tear with these Whole Foods recipes. Last week, we cooked up Pasta w/Broccoli and Gorgonzola along with some homemade bruscetta and a Caesar salad. It was a great and filling meal.

Recipe #6 over on the foodie blog.

Market East Walkway

I got off at the 13th St stop on the El the other day with the intention of getting to Market East to buy a weekly TransPass [I lost my fucking monthly pass last week, arg!], but I noticed that I was at the wrong stop and that I'd have to hoof it over to the next stop underground. Not bad I thought, I'd never taken this walk before. Bad idea.

Holy shit does it reek down there! The above shot is representative of that fetid effluvium. I pushed the yellow as a simple representation of the overpowering scent of piss. So there. It's not simply a shot of the beauty of tile and glassblock and stainless steel that is SEPTA's palette of style, it is an overt tug at the olfactory senses via the optic nerve. For the colorblind out there, bear with me on this one color wise, but you can get a whiff of it if you'd like by taking a trip down stairs between the 13th St and 11th St El stations.

Happy smelling.

Click the photo for a slightly larger version on my photoblog.