On Why Can't Nigel Spell?
I faintly (mis)remember(?) a high school teacher giving us a mnemonic to keep the spelling of separate distinct from the spelling of desperate, which involves my having to visualize a rat in a septic tank every time I need to spell either of those words.
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On Things That Should Fall Out Of A Piñata At A Cinco De Mayo Party
I've actually scrambled for piñata prizes that turned out to be tartar control toothpaste. The piñata packer worked at a dental school.
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On An Analysis of the Thomas Kinkade Calendar for April
(yes, I confuse days-old Awl comment threads with news sources)
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On An Analysis of the Thomas Kinkade Calendar for April
I just heard he died, and this is the first place I came, to check for the news. I had to confirm elsewhere, but having read this, had to come back to express the wish that his death not spell an end to this project! I have to admit: I find so much about the Kinkade...ouevre? ...phenomenon? ...er, Experience so offputting that I always initially just breeze (swiftly, willfully) past the calendar image as it crops up in The Awl-stream. However that may be, you, and the Commenters of Light have established such a rich dynamic, that illuminates so much of the pleasure to be had from a Kinkade image. Something about savoring the delights of the mundane resonates so deeply through both your work here and his. I unironically enjoy this (which I would put in quotes, to refer to my having drawn it from the comment immediately above, except I thought it'd require this note anyway), and look forward to relishing his memory here each month of 2012.
Oof, I'm gushing... His death must have hit me harder than I thought.
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On Every Web Action Will Be a "Like" Soon
Careful now: automagically is already trademarked elsewhere! The kudos will likely need to be sent insta-shazam-icly!, or abracadabricly!... or something.
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On Buying The Bottom Shelf: An Adventure In Cheap Liquor
Years ago, Bruno (R.I.P.), of the Persian Aub Zam Zam Room, recommended Boord's Gin to me, and I still look for it when the well runs dry. BevMo carries plastic handles of it for $17. So, close to the price of Duggan's, per oz. of pure alcohol...
I only recently learned that Boord's was the original "old tom gin", a lightly sweetened version of gin (kinda like "genever"), popular back in London's 19th century "gin craze" days. Their blend, in intervening years, must have changed with the popular taste--my bottle, anyway, says "London Dry" on the label, and I don't taste any sugar. All I taste is smooth, cheap gin!
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On Buying The Bottom Shelf: An Adventure In Cheap Liquor
I was at an event last week, at SF's Academy of Science, celebrating local food and drink makers, wherein one of the bars was serving martinis made with vodka "infused with local juniper berries, pink peppercorns, citrus peels, & rose petals". I would never ordinarily call anything with vodka a "martini", but I had a little trouble wrapping my head around how gin differs from what's described above... And then, with an olive and a dash of "local house-made dry vermouth", and all the distractions of the museum, I have to confess, I couldn't tell I was drinking a "vodka martini".
So, I assume (as I willfully avoid wikipedia-ing), in gin making, the junipers (and forty other herbs and spices) are boiled along with the mash in the distilling process, as opposed to being steeped in the alcohol later?
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On Beirut, "Vagabond"
Almost just what I was thinking: reminds me of my favorite scene in several old Bela Tarr movies, which always seemed to break down, at some point, to a Hungarian village twirling drunkenly together in their saloon.
I haven't seen his latest, but that's what's been missing from his last couple, as I recall, which may explain my waning ardor.
More drunken twirling in the face of oppressive poverty, dammit!
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On Our End of the World Contingency Plans
End of the world, The Awl stops publishing: I can't tell the difference. Each weekend, I'm, like, "I know I'm alive, but I'm not sure why".
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On Visualizations
Some of us have come to see the First World War in a Downton Abbey palette. Can we still learn something, reading that link?