i know that this is going to threaten my remaining shreds of credibility, but there's this ridiculously funny blog called dlisted which bashes celebrities a la star. i'm really not into celebrity gossip at all, but the gay-isms are hilarious, and his "hot sluts of the day" (which has included among others carol channing and beverly clearly) regularly make me laugh out loud. i'm sure this will be perfect for all of you people who have been longing for a gay pal to dish with. here's a sample entry:

Britney was out and about yesterday proudly showing her new gut! I'm all for loving the whole pregnancy thing. Actually, I know you sluts will disagree with my ass but I think she looks good. Except for the hideous swamp-thing skirt, she looks happy and glowing. So Britney, go on with your trailer trash self!

just got back from my first (and hopefully not last) pixies concert. it amazes me (in a good way) that these guys have come back; and although they didn't quite completely fill the agganis arena (a new venue in town. BU's new hockey rink i think, and conveniently located on the B line), the crowd was very enthusiastic. i'm not going to write a full review, but here are my main thoughts: the show got off to a slow start, w/ "subbacultcha", "wave of mutilation" (which they reprised the slower version of later in the show), and "no. 13 baby", but the songs that really picked up for me were "alec eiffel" (one of my fav pixies songs) and then "la la love you" (david, the drummer, on vox). "vamos" had some fun joey moments, and "hey" was a fantastic highlight near the end of the show. as an encore they did "gigantic", w/ kim on vox. i wouldn't have minded hearing "dig for fire", but of course i can't complain. all in all a good show, despite some somewhat annoying people next to me and only so-so seats. whoo! pixies!

i've been meaning to write some reviews of random restaurants andy and i have been to lately. for all but the last, mentally add the following line at the end of each review: "oh well, at least it's nice to try new places." torch (beacon hill, 26 charles st). winnie didn't have any complaints when she went some years ago, but andy and i were disappointed. the ambience was pretty good, with unusual sheets of copper on the walls, and the service was fine (although andy found our waiter to be a bit abrasive). as for the food: my asparagus soup was fine, but my mushroom pasta was completely one-dimensional and relied too much on portabella, which i think people would generally agree is always a bad move. andy had a decent salad to start, but his lamb was pretty much ruined due to overcooking. veggie planet (in club passim in harvard square). this was one of the more bizarre meals we've had. i'm all for earthy food, but earthy shouldn't mean tasteless. andy got a pizza (made from haley house dough) that was incredibly bland, and i had the "peanut curry" which basically was some slightly-cooked peanuts and broccoli w/ a gloopy, salty sauce dribbled on it. both strongly called to mind the image of a young elementary-school aged kid cooking a father's day meal. the kid-sized seats and tables added to the illusion. cambridge brewing company (kendall square, across from the movie theater). i just had to write about this. andy and i went here out of desperation (i'm still bummed out that the kendall cafe closed) and had some more strange food. his "iceberg lettuce salad" came out, and it was literally a quarter head of iceberg lettuce on a plate w/ some white stuff dribbled on it and a couple of mushy "falafels". what was really amazing was that not only was the lettuce not cut at all and not only was it pretty much the least fresh produce i've ever had in a restaurant, but they didn't even bother to peel off the outer, definitely brown leaves. and the meat inside his chicken empanadas looked suspiciously like cat food. i get chills just thinking about it. also, the waitress gave me a textbook "blank look" when i rather smilingly commented, "that was a very interesting salad!" prairie star (dartmouth st south of the back bay T stop). this one actually turned out to be a keeper ... or at least in comparison to most of the stuff in the area. andy and i walk by this place all the time, but we assumed it'd be on par to b.good which is next door and which is even worse than its pointlessly strangely punctuated name (i.e. pretty terrible, i.e. worse than mcdonald's), or (god forbid) the cheesecake factory. (speaking of the cheesecake factory, andy and i went to the latter on a whim b/c i was craving their avocado eggrolls (there goes my street cred), and we just have to wonder who in the world is making up their menus: the food tends to be like a suburbanite's idea of what haute cuisine might be like. i was intrigued by their "fried macaroni balls in creamy marinara" and believe you me, it was an adventure.) anyway, back to prairie star: the chips and salsa were good, and i had the vegetarian tostada. the food wasn't incredibly deep, but the ingredients were quite fresh and overall very satisfying, particularly since there really isn't much in the way of mexican around here. apparently this replaced a place called "baja cantina", and apparently it's owned by the same people who own laurel and firefly (been to the former for an okay brunch, but not to the latter which looks about as cheesy as legal's). so ... one out of four ain't bad ... i guess?

montreal was entertaining, although uneventful; we mostly just walked around and got a feel for the city. here are some pics. in order they are: apartment building in chinatown; sign by the river that for some reason i thought was funny (click to see it bigger); the montreal tower and frosting-covered olympic stadium; another view of the tower and stadium. by the way, if you ever go i highly recommend you check out the botanical gardens, in particular the insectarium. it's a little low on information, but has great, creepy, crawly, gross-you-out stuff.

actually i have to also add that i've been reading the babynamewizard blog (home of the totally cool baby name voyager). i dunno why, but i find this fascinating. i like how the trends of names reveal so much about society. or maybe it's b/c almost every name calls to mind a character just waiting to be written. either way it makes for very entertaining time wastage. and i have to confess that andy bought me the book also! people are going to think we're going to have a baby! HAHAHA.

i think i came across this when i was looking through some blogs. this is a fascinating transcribed debate between stephen pinker and a woman named elizabeth spelke (who is also at harvard) in response to the president of harvard's um indiscreet comments about his opinions on the natural abilities of women. pinker is pro-biology and spelke is in the environment camp. based on the evidence they provide you'll have to decide yourself about what you think about women's natural science ability, although i have to say that pretty much all the women i met at MIT have proven spelke right. i'm definitely going to be reading some of these other talks also. speaking of blogs, the only one i've gotten into at all (despite seeking out recommendations) is the apparently pretty famous dooce.com. this woman from utah has a very familiar (in a good way) sense of sarcasm and spazziness (sp?), and although she has an obsession with poo and some of her pictures and entries can border on shmaltz (pretty much impossible not to since she has both a kid and a dog), she's pretty entertaining. here's a sample entry, in all its sarcastic and cynical glory. so this makes about the third blog i read now, and the other two don't really count: one is carl's blog, which doesn't count b/c i know him. the other is marthadot, which doesn't count b/c it's a group blog of random time-wastage stuff that i'm part of. but both are good reads.