Archive for September, 2007
Peanut Butter is so American, you can’t even really find it in the UK
Saturday, September 29th, 2007I have a few friends who just headed over the England and were dismayed to discover that you can’t buy peanut butter in the UK (except maybe in some obscure specialty stores). One of them eats peanut butter sandwiches at least once a day — sometimes twice — so this is a real issue. They [...]
Asian American Literary Award Winners Announced
Friday, September 28th, 2007The Asian American Writers Workshop (which is based in New York City interestingly, and not like San Francisco) announced their 2007 Asian American Literary Award Winners yesterday.
Poetry
Linh Dinh for Borderless Bodies (Factory School, 2006)
Nonfiction
Amitav Ghosh for Incendiary Circumstances: A Chronicle of the Turmoil of Our Times (Houghton Mifflin, 2006)
Fiction
Samrat Upadhyay for [...]
Now more NYT Bestsellers coming near you! (More ways to be above average)
Wednesday, September 26th, 2007Josh Getlin of The Los Angeles Times writes about the expansion of The New York Times bestsellers list to differentiate between trade paperback (the bigger flat books) and mass-market paperbacks (the squatter ones). While the article doesn’t explicitly say this, it’s part of the NYTimes’ desire to value “impact/influence of books” rather than straight up [...]
From Child Porn to Chinese Food…
Thursday, September 20th, 2007Today I watched my close friend, Adam, give his closing arguments in his first case as a federal prosecutor. It was a child enticement case where a 49-year-old man showed up in New York City with a condom and a camera expecting to have sex with a 13-year-old girl he met online. Only she as [...]
Books or Babies?
Friday, September 14th, 2007Last Sunday I went out for dim sum with my college roommate and her husband and their adorable baby Audrey. Audrey, who is about 9 months old, is normally very picky about food actually loved the rice porridge and the mango pudding. It was very adorable to watch. Random thought that occured to me. Have [...]
Takeover by Charlie Savage is now out!
Sunday, September 9th, 2007This is a plug for my friend Charlie Savage’s book — Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of the American Democracy. I just got it today and am reading through it.
One of the more interesting points is the Office of Legal Counsel — which Charlie says is “the most important office [...]
I’m turning in my manuscript (for real this time)
Wednesday, September 5th, 2007Copyedited, factchecked, read-aloud, parsed, reworked. Yay. Done. I’m getting on the Subway to go to the publisher’s office. It is a paper document) From here it goes to galleys. It has been a three-month birthing process. During Labor Day someone asked me “How was your summer?” My first thought was “Why is he using the [...]
Is this where fortune cookies go to die?
Wednesday, September 5th, 2007Hal Bergman, a local Los Angeles photographer, stumbled upon three dumpsters full of fortune cookies. LAist has an interview with him.
Here is the entire photoset on Flickr. I was looking at the cookies. The two largest manufacturers of fortune cookies in LA are Peking Noodle and Umeya. These don’t look at either.
China, Chinese, dumpster, [...]
The closing of a Chinatown institution, May May Chinese Gourmey Bakery
Monday, September 3rd, 2007
I wrote a piece on the closing of May May Chinese Bakery on Pell Street in Chinatown after 42 years. It is so sad, because their food really is amazing — like discernably a cut above anything else you try; flakier, freshier, flavorfuler (is that a word? now it is).
As I explain, May May’s closing [...]