Daily Oddities, July 23rd, 2009

We’ve got lots to talk about today, so lets get right down to the real serious stuff.
Globe: Things still really suck for EU little cousins Bulgaria and Romania, where infighting, corruption and graft are making it difficult to get anything done. Vote-buying, which we’ve mentioned before, is easy when your political power is less valuable [...]

Daily Oddities: July 17, 2009

It’s another day in the neighborhood, and Oddities are all around us. In fact, I’d say it’s a banner week for weird.
Brooklyn:
Despite preliminary approval for the city’s first Wal-Mart, Brooklynites are still fighting the man, while the Man uncovers coaching documents for Chinese immigrants seeking asylum in the United States. Classic Man-hating gutter punks (so familiar [...]

Your Intifada was Made in China: Commodity Fetishism Killing Palestine

A version of this is up at Mother Jones, but this one is too hard for the homepage.

Oh the keffiyeh. How long have I waited, in vain, for you to die? Before it was the emblem of the hipster generation, the keffiyeh (spelled many ways but worn only one) was the preferred and only headdress for PLO leader [...]

the things i like to write about (are weird)

From time to time, when I am writing, I have this thought—which I occasionally post on FB:
“sometimes i sit down and i write some shit and i think, holy mother of G-d i am a sick, terrible person. at least i’m thin”
Usually in those exact words . Anyone who knows me knows that i write [...]

Oops, I almost forgot! Cigarettes now $9/pack in NYC

It’s official—cigarette prices jumped 62-cents a pack nationwide on Wednesday, bumping the cheapest brand over $9 in NYC. You weren’t really thinking of quitting, were you? Not now. We were having so much fun!

Gaza: an editor’s note (camels on the b-roll)

*I post this out of love, because even (and often) the most earnest among us are also the most absurd.
I was trolling Facebook as I often do when i came across a friend’s photo album from a recent Gaza mish. I am sharing this in violation of my own rules to make a point about [...]

The Obama Admin. Workout Plan

 
 
 
  Whether you want Presidential proportions in time for bikini season, or you’re still struggling after that New Years resolution, consider the 44th President your new role model. 
 
  The Guardian gaped at Obama’s formidable workout regime back in November, which quotes from a Men’s Health article in which the President copped to a 45-minute daily routine that alternates [...]

News You Need to be Reading, part 1

Dear Readers,
There is so much going on! First the inauguration, then the Clinton confirmation and Caroline Kennedy’s graceful departure from the NY Senate contest. Israel once again departed the Gaza Strip.  One might almost forget there was a whole EARTH out there full of other shit going on.
Since all you’ve been reading about is a) [...]

Actively Ignoring Gaza: or, why I won’t write about the conflict

FACT:

There are, on average, 1,000 foreign correspondents reporting from Israel and the occupied territories–a nation with about the same geographic size and population as New Jersey–at any given time. In times of war, like right now, the number swells to upwards of 3,000.

Consider, then, that on the entire continent of Africa–the world’s second most populace continent after Asia– with its myriad wars, legions of corrupt governments, genocides, AIDS and MDRTB, pirates, inflation, starvation and hotbeds of militant fundamentalism, there are an average of 900.