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Dec 31, 2012
Hot Sauce Committee Part Three
On Instagram, I asked people to nominate a favorite hot sauce. I re-posted the question to Twitter. Here, on Tumblr, are the resulting sauces and votes (or mentions that I am calling votes, with rounding up for brands and varietals).
(@jody_beth, @leonstj, @brittlebk, @oldjew77, @borninflames, @liiiindsaaaay, @merrymoore, @scottaak, @janedonuts, @danmcswain, @kibird)
(@HeyJacquiDey, @TheDaysofLore, @leonstj, @jacdelorey, @_karenita, @brittlebk, @merrymoore)
(@compactrobot, @PeterTascio, @willwoodson, @joyrocker)
(@elle_aich, @stoftey, @logankyoung, @danmcswain)
(@toddpatrick, @borninflames, @robertcwestjr)
(@Starmama30, @jamestylerespn)
(@cushac)
(@debcha)
(@phillydesign, who says, ”Habenero-based sauce from Belize. Carrots make it not overly hot, and it has incredible, unique flavor”)
(@huahsu, who says label uses “illo of joint-passing peppers, NORML propaganda next to the ingredients”)
(@NYCVega)
The Sword — Tears of Fire Hot Sauce
Trappey’s Red Devil™ Cayenne Pepper Hot Sauce
Dr. Frank ‘n’ Swine Hot Pepper Sauce
And one reaction to my comment that Frank’s is too vinegary:
@Francis_Lam: “In descending order of tanginess: Crystal, Texas Pete, Sambal Oelek, Sriracha, chile oil.”
Dec 27, 2012
Brian Eno, “China My China” video, 1974 (via Dangerous Minds).
From the original DM post (with links added):
“A Pre-MTV pre-release promo for Eno’s 1974 LP, “Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy).” Brian performs in front of a stack of tube TVs backed by Judy Nylon and Polly Eltes on guitars. Polly and Judy also sing on the LP. This was recorded in 1974 at Island Records in Shepherds Bush where it languished for all these years in the tape storage room.”
In the comments of YouTube, we get this:
Robin Rimbaud-Scanner: “Directed by Doug Smith, who told me the full story of how this came together recently. He collected together this bank of TV sets in the studio and then got Eno to mime in front of them. A piece of simple magic indeed!”
Dec 27, 2012
Now New York* (late seventies— )
Which establishments 1) were doing business in the early eighties; 2) mattered to downtown NYC culture; and 3) still exist? (Downtown culture extended uptown, so it’s a loose definition.) This discussion isn’t about finding any authoritative end; I am just working on a memoir that touches on this period, and more names will help.
Thanks to @visitordesign, @lillyodonnell, @alicetiara, @andyzax, @iamMarkRonson, @thoughtcoop, @ninarobertsnyc, @jezebeldodai, @lisajanepersky, and @prackin for suggestons. I will add and credit more names as they come in. I don’t post much here anymore, so this can accrete for a while. Fact-checking welcome (hit me on @sfj).
Gray’s Papaya on 72nd & Broadway
St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery
Astor Place Hair Stylists (though it’s shrunk)
Veselka (now expanded to a second location)
* Thanks to @visitordesign for title.
Dec 27, 2012
R.A. Dickey on the spin of a perfect knuckleball:
As a conventional pitcher, you throw a fastball, a curveball, a slider, a change-up — and those pitches are all thrown with a certain amount of spin on them. With a knuckleball, you’re doing the opposite. You’re taking spin completely off the baseball and you’re leaving it up to the physics of air resistance and seams on the baseball. … So, a perfectly thrown knuckleball has a little less than a quarter rotation from the time it leaves your hand until the time that it gets to the catcher’s mitt.
Image by ryangphoto1 via Flickr Commons
Dec 20, 2012
How to make Time Warner internet work in Fort Greene
This was how I got reliable, fast internet access in Fort Greene after months of the opposite. I know there are other solutions involving satellite dishes, but those are beyond me. Tech-savvy people know about next-level solutions — this is not one of those. (I can’t speak for other neighborhoods, though I think abutting areas fall under the same conditions of near-monopoly as Fort Greene.)
If you live in one of the neighborhoods Time Warner services poorly, you know this routine. The crap modem the company provides copes badly with signal spikes. As a result, the modem kicks out every few hours. To get service back, you have to reboot. Unplug both the coaxial cable and the power cord, wait, and then plug them all in again. Hopefully, you’ve waited long enough and the internet has returned. If it didn’t, do it again, wait longer, and reattach the lot. No worries—you’ve got nothing better to do.
Optimum doesn’t service Fort Greene, and Earthlink has a partnership with Time Warner. This means that Earthlink offers you the same gear, installed by the same people, as Time Warner. (Representatives from these companies said this to me, over the phone, in real time.) The following is what worked for me.
1. Lodge a complaint with Time Warner via live chat. This will officially mark the beginning of the period they will (maybe) acknowledge later, should you demand a refund.
2. You will likely have your modem rebooted remotely and be told that your problem is “fixed.” It probably isn’t, but who knows.
3. Buy this modem and make an appointment for a service call.
4. When the service person comes, let him do his thing for a few minutes. My experience has been really positive with the hardware guys. Several have told me stuff off the record about TW, and the last one gave me tips and told me about a stray modem lodged on my account that I needed to track down so I didn’t get penalized.
5. Ask the service person to shorten the cable as much as possible — any excess coiling does you zero good and you aren’t likely to move your setup once you get it right. (If you are, then choose a spot and stop mucking about.)
6. Then ask the service person to install the Motorola modem. They will contact the base wizards, and make this happen. If they grumble, point out that you are not obliged to use or rent their gear. Then, while the guy is still there, tell the Death Star operators to ax the modem rental fee and sign up for this daft thing called “turbo,” which bumps you up from an average of 15 Mbps to about 19 Mbps during the day. The two things are almost equivalent in cost.
Good luck. Also, all of this may not work. It’s the best solution I’ve found so far and it’s been steady for a few weeks.
Nov 12, 2012
How to Rebound.
Oct 8, 2012
Biscuit :: ‘Roller Derby’
Because. That’s why.
Sep 30, 2012
Listen to a song by The Soupcans.
Sep 18, 2012
(Source: retrospace, via braiker)
Sep 1, 2012
Beanie Sigel, “The Reunion,” featuring State Property, from “This Time,” 2012.
Aug 13, 2012
King Crimson, Larks’ Tongues in Aspic part I
(Larks’ Tongues in Aspic, 1973)Abstract metal.
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