While it’s not nearly as extensive as the Library of Congress’ account, the Library of Virginia has it’s own presence on Flickr. It’s only 200 images as of this posting and the range is limited, but there’s plenty of info for each where available. CHECK IT OUT.
I caught “Sleepyhead” by Passion Pit on WRIR this morning (though I know I heard it already – I just can’t remember where…), and it’s my jam-of-the-day:
I find the video to be extremely clever, and the song is just short enough that the idea isn’t worn out on me. It was directed by The Wilderness, a collaboration between Juliet Rios and Gabe Imlay, whose work seems generally to rock my socks off. Be sure to check out some other videos on their site.
Sweet mother of sweet mothers! BEHOLD!!!
This Mystery Science Theater 3000 box set is something new for the ol’ Christmas list 
Those crazy-awesome crazies at The A.V. Club made and tasted bacon-infused vodka.
My only problem with the whole enterprise is that they couldn’t figure out a simple way to get all the fat out. All you have to do is pour the whole thing into a parallel-sided container and pop it in the freezer. The fat solidifies and floats to the top and the vodka would clarify quite a bit. THEN you could strain it to make it even more clear if needed.
Also, I’m in favor of adding maple flavor (unless it’s already maple bacon…) and some vanilla to the infusion. Shake with some butterscotch schnapps and cream, and you have buttered pancakes with syrup and bacon in a glass. Maybe
Things could be slow this week, folks…
Between a crazy busy work week and crap-loads of work around the house, my mind isn’t all there lately.
But I did get something nifty, recently
I don’t know how long it’ll be until it’s little more than crappy reality TV shows, but MTV has returned to music…online.
MTV Music is a joy to my music-loving heart. The interface is – so far – fairly uncluttered. The search engine is quick to dig through the 22,000+ videos. In addition to a simple but fast-loading player you have sparse but useful information such as the director (linking to other videos by the same person!). As a fitting test, here’s the video to one of my favorite songs by the sadly-no-more Big Wreck:
And as a bonus here’s Stars by Hum:
The Virginia Center for Architecture is hosting an exhibit on Eero Saarinen’s furniture through January 25th of ‘09. While the VCA has a tragically small exhibition space, the furniture selections are decent and the detailed time line in the main hallway is thoroughly informative.
The exhibit is free, so if you want some culture on the cheap (though anything but cheap culture), check it out.
I don’t see how you could get any weirder/funnier than Robocop on a Unicorn.
(via Andrew Sullivan)
Okay, you know I’m a fan of the digital galleries curated by folks at The Morning News.
Well this week’s offering is simultaneously nerdy, surreal, and beautiful. Rosecrans Baldwin interviews Cornelia Hesse-Honegger about her strangely pretty watercolors of insects affected by low-level radiation.
This morning my RSS reader had an exciting entry. The Fan District Hub pointed me to Melissa Ruggieri’s review of a nascent bagel joint smack in the heart of VCU’s Monroe Park campus. This was awesome – something closer than Cupertino’s but serving their bagels. Even if the Bagel Czar didn’t make their own (unfortunate, but not the end of the world) at least they sourced them wisely.
Now I care far less than Ruggieri about the decor of my bagel purveyors. I’m not sure what background (and I don’t mean to doubt it) makes her a “bagel snob” and I don’t want to sound contrarian, but nearly every worthy bagel shop I’ve entered from Delaware to Manhattan is a little on the plain and utilitarian side. Sometimes even hole-in-the-wall. What matters is the bagels, and here’s where things started to disappoint.
Having tasted Cupertino’s wares a number of times, I’m doubtful these bagels were their work. While the West End deli and bagel shop isn’t quite like the Tri-State area, they at least have that slightly crispy skin on the outside with a slightly chewy interior. The Bagel Czar, on the other hand, was a bit too chewy for my taste the whole way through. It’s not simply the subjective evidence that makes me question the origin of these bagels, though. Their own website has the following message in the title bar of the browser: “Bagel Czar: serving authentic NY H&H bagels to the greater Richmond community.” So I asked the gent behind the bar this morning where they procured their dough and he told me that it’s not even H&H anymore. The bagels were apparently too small and – surprise – couldn’t stay fresh that long coming all the way from NYC. So they switched to some distributor whose name he couldn’t quite recall for sure; either “Walther” or “Walter” or some such place, and he didn’t know where they were located.
Is it possible that at 7:30 AM the wage employee didn’t really know who dropped off the food? Sure. Is it possible Cupertino’s owns a truck with some other name on the side? Sure. But if these are indeed their bagels, then I have greater cause for disappointment since it would mean the quality is slipping.
Granted, the bagel I had wasn’t terrible. I like to test a new place by trying a plain bagel with butter (or an egg bagel if they make them – sadly, not at the Bagel Czar, but available at Cupertino’s), and this was decent. Look, if you’re a student who can’t hoof it out to Cox Road for a worthwhile bagel, this place beats the crap out of whatever Kroger has to offer. But if you can and are willing to drive a little, the Bagel Czar isn’t worth your time.
UPDATE: The proprietor of Cupertino’s told me that the Bagel Czar does, indeed, carry his bagels. I dunno if perhaps they don’t always have fresh stock (and I haven’t exactly returned), but unless I’m desperate for time, I’d rather make the trek to the Far West End and get them from the man himself.
