Food Coma

Here is what is making news this afternoon (or a few days ago - depending on how far I get in Reader):

* Mike Riggs over the CityDesk took PC Mag's 100 Best Blogs list and narrowed it down to 6 that he thinks are the best of the best.  While I'm not so sure about that, I don't have the time to go look at 100 blogs and decide which are the best, so I'll have to take his word on it.  Go check out his list here; and PC Mag's full list here.  (Conrad, you should check out Riggs' list, there is a cool medieval blog that I can just picture you sharing on a daily basis)

* Good news ... The great Italian restaurant formerly located in ... the Golden Triangle-ish, Galileo, is coming back!  Executive Chef Roberto Donna has signed a letter of intent with the owners of the former Butterfield 9 space.  WaPo Going Out Guru Blog has the full story - here - I don't want to just copy everything they said ... but this is really exciting.  I remember Brandon Sherr used to rave about Galileo - In fact when Friend and I came to visit him/GW in the February 2004, HomeZone @ old J Street was featuring Galileo food - it was delicious.

* Good news again ... and old news.  On Christmas Eve (I had left the post unread in Reader and just read it) the MoCo Planning Board enthusiastically endorsed Light Rail for the Purple Line.  This just a step in the right direction to making sure that the Purple Line actually gets built - and that it is LRT instead of BRT.  Via DCMud - here.

* In other LRT news, BeyondDC brings news that yesterday the Phoenix Valley Metro light rail system officially opened for business!  Finally the Phoenix metro area has rail train sit ... yay!  Excitement!  Here.

* BestBites has a post about how some restaurants including one of my favorites, Poste, have taken to bottling their own sparkling/still water.  It is a little bit more expensive, but in the end they don't have hundreds of cases of empty bottles to throw out - and they can even customize the 'sparkling-ness' of the water.  Here.

* City Room says that NYC had a record 47 million visitors last year - up 1 million from a year earlier.  And they spent $30 Billion in 2008 as well.  Cool.  Here.

* History of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree - here.  (Via City Room)

* An interesting article in The Paper of Record over the weekend about a bar that is moving - and if its patron will follow.  I had to think about this for a while, as I certainly have a good number of bars and restaurants that I frequent because they are good - and fairly close.  If they moved - even if only a few blocks - would I still go?  If they moved closer to me, of course - haha, but there are definitely one or two that I would probably go to much less often if they moved 4 or 5 blocks further from me.  Here.  Your thoughts?

* A Vegas casino with a smoking ban ... hmmm.  This is only one of two casinos in Nevada which has a ban on smoking - it's actually in Reno, not Vegas.  And people are hoping it survives - to show the major casinos that smoking is not necessary for business.  Here - via The Paper of Record.

* The Paper of Record's Motherlode blog (here) wonders what age is it okay for a child to ride the train alone?  A reporter sparked a nationwide debate when she let her 9-year-old ride the subway alone, sent her daughter on the train this Christmas - now 10.  A conductor on the train did not like this, and had the police called - though the officer eventually agreed with the mother and let the child go on her way alone - it makes you wonder ... what is an appropriate age.  The MTA says the minimum age is 8, so clearly the conductor was out of line in his concern - but still ... thoughts?  I think it all depends on the kid, but 10 seems legit - especially in the age of cell phones and constant communication.  

* The Phantom of the Opera: Part 2 -- are you kidding me.  Via Perez, here.  This sounds like crap.

* Crystal City 2.0 ... check it out at DCMud, here.  Maybe we can finally have a Crystal City that is actually friendly and is easy to drive around and walk around - and doesn't look like such a mess.  Even thinking of Crystal City upsets me.

* Do you like Narnia ... too bad.  Disney said no to the 3rd film, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  Via Reuters, here.

* TUAW (here) has some lovely information from Engadget ... while Apple has yet to answer my prayers HP has!  The new HP MediaSmart centers are able to act as a centralized storage server for your iTunes library ... which is necessary now that I have AppleTV.  Oh this is exciting.  Unstoppable.  It is based on Windows Home Server and has storage expandable up to 9TB, and comes standard with 750GB (599$), or 1.5TB (749$).  Amazing, but slightly expensive.

Rejoice: It's over.

Slumdog and some other musings

I didn't get a chance to write about this when I first sat down this morning because I was little busy, but last night I saw Slumdog Millionaire.  Wow.  Very, very good movie.  I have embedded the preview, if you have not seen it yet - I suggest watching it, I think it will really make you want to see it.  It is about an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai who gets onto India's Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, gets within one question of one million ... and is arrested on the accusation of cheating.  The movie is a story of how he got to where he is now, what he does, and of course an amazing love story all intertwined.  If you think it sounds cheesy and stupid, I promise it is not.

Just as interesting as the movie was, I think one of the most insightful parts for me was actually watching this kid grow up ... the life of a slumdog orphan.  Seeing what the slums of Mumbai are like, and traveling as Jamal made his way around the city and around the country.  Sometimes ending up dealing with the wrong people, always needing money, and working as hard as possible just to make it to the next day alive.  I really recommend going to see it, and let me know what you think.  In addition, the soundtrack is also amazing - I have embedded my favorite song right below the YouTube Trailer.

Jai Ho - A.R. Rahman

* We lead with an ad-parody from Portfolio.com's Best and Worst Overlooked Ads ...

* More on that 66-inch water main break this morning ... over 15 people had to be rescued and Montgomery County closed schools 2.5 hours early.  Apparently it is safe to drink water though, and everyone should have full water service.

* Per WaPo, Fenty and crew are accepting bids for 11 of the 23 schools that were closed down this year as a result of Rhee's Righteous Realignment.  Developers can submit proposals which include office space, affordable housing, high priced housing, and/or retail.  Of the schools, a good number are in prime real estate locations - including Steven's Elemtary School located between K and L in Foggy Bottom/West End/Golden Triangle.  WaPo article is here.

* Shocker found in the CityPaper this morning ... Circus Chairman Vincent Gray  (who is also Chairman of the Anti-Fenty Committee) is upset that Michelle Rhee was on the cover of TIME.  Not only is Gray a few weeks late in reading this issue of time, but this particular blogger thinks he is quite peeved that TIME was writing about Rhee and not him.  Gray is not a fan of Rhee, mainly because she is trying to get things done - and he prefers that things get done at a slower pace and with him getting credit for them.  Sadly for him (but luckily for DC residents), Rhee doesn't care what Gray and the other ringleaders think - and is fixing schools with or without their support.

Gray claims to be upset by a quote attributed to him by the author of the TIME article, Amanda Ripley, saying "dealing with Rhee [was] a 'nightmare.'"  Gray is all up in arms because he would never be stupid enough to say this to a TIME reporter, but was stupid enough to say it on the record at a Circus meeting over the summer.  Ms. Ripley found the quote from LL's CityPaper blog, and proceeded to basically copy and paste into the TIME article.  Now, normally I'd say that Ms. Ripley was perfectly in line ... Gray did say this and its a part of the public record, but according to Gray she never even contacted his office for a clarification or comment on the quote.  It seems to me that a reporter writing a cover story for a national news magazine might want to get some more information on quotes before she publishes them.  Gray wrote the editor of TIME a really nasty note about how he should have been given a chance to speak for himself.  Even though I think he is a slimeball and any modification to that quote would have been a complete lie, Ms. Ripley really should have at least shot off an e-mail.  You can read the whole thing over at the CityPaper.

* Continuing on the schools note DCTeacherChic brings up a great point - if the WTU 'spent half as much time protecting the jobs of terrible teachers and twice as much time negotiating higher standards and improved resources for teachers, DC children would be much better off.'.  She is beyond right in this assertion.  Even though I feel that Union's are the absolute spawn of evil, I would be willing to negotiate with them - if they were willing to acknowledge any real concessions.

* GGW has some more about LaHood and not understanding the links between transportation and climate change.  Read about it here.

* WaPo talks about how the Purple Line might actually see construction - after being discussed for over 30 years - thanks to the pro-infrastructure spending of the incoming administration.  While I tend to agree with the Post that the Purple Line probably won't eliminate that much congestion along the Beltway, I think it is very necessary ... it is currently impossible to get across the route it will serve.  And buses just aren't an option - there is too much of a stigma against them.  Light Rail is the way to go.

* Trinidad is getting 30 crime surveillance cameras thanks to a program called CitySafe (a joint venture of Target and Sprint-Nextel).  This should help in crime reduction!  Via WaPo - here.

* Last but not least - Obama SmarTrip cards and one-day passes are now available for sale on Metro's website.  I would link directly to it, but then I'd be losing advertising revenue - lol jk, Google Transit joke. - link here.  I've tried to buy one like four or five times today and have not been able to get the transaction to complete - let me know if you have more luck.