internets
Quote of the year: "I hear rumors on the Internets..." -G.W.B. C'mon now, 48% of you want this guy to be president again?
WORDS
He changed it all. Jacques Derrida (Wikipedia) died Friday. The obit that landed on the front page of the Times this morning is good at describing the cultural shift that Derrida created (or documented), but it obsesses on defining deconstruction. Google News has more, and if you know French, you might try Le Monde's obit. Look for heavy eulogizing from the remnants of old guard of academia this week.
DATING / SEX
My pal Melissa has a theory that the best way for a boy to get a girl to like him is to have it known that other girls like him. I don't like when she talks like this, because I fear it will reveal too much strategy. Anyway, the best thing in NYT Styles this week is the piece about Wingwomen.com, a site where a guy hires a girl to act as their social liason to other desirable girls.
NSFW: Move over machinima, here's Real Doll Theater.
NSFW: Hentai dictionary. Wow, I'm a prude.
DIGITAL MEDIA
Ana Marie Cox was on Topic A With Tina Brown this week, and everyone seems to have just ignored how Wonkette eviscerated Tina on numerous occasions. Is this a sign that Wonkette is becoming so much a part of the mainstream as to be ineffectual?
LostRemote reports that Keith Olbermann will launch a blog on msnbc.com next week.
FOOD
What I like about Brendan Koerner's weekly Sunday Times column "The Goods" is not so much how he introduces us to the marketing of a unique product every week (althought that's good too), but more than that, I like how he bolsters his picks by quoting obscure industry dot-coms. This week, you could be cruising along reading the analysis of cheese pizza when it throws out at you the industry site PizzaMarketplace.com. It can hardly be surprising to find out there's a pizza industry publication, yet that it's so accessible is one the great things about the internet.
TV
You can't find a more indicting example of celebrity culture than the Times story about how people are making careers out of becoming repeat reality tv stars. Coral Smith has been in five reality shows now.
DIGITAL LIFE
New: Ask.PRVblog.com.
DIY Video: IM Fight.
FILM
On NPR, Xeni Jardin talks to Trey Parker and Matt Stone about Team America. They're also in Newsweek. In related news, Sean Penn sends an angry memo to the boys.
Buzz alert. Primer looks promising.
MUSIC
Hm, Christgau gives Smile an A+.
Lindsey Lohan's new music vid.
TRAVEL
My email pal Jeff Gralnick pens a travel essay about his climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.
LOCAL
More from Riemenschneider on the First Ave. debacle. Here's the TCPunk message board debating the issues.
A Strib roundup of three different Minnesota women who have recently had some reality tv fame, including Jamie Foss, who is pretty much a parody of every reality tv start alive.
