Did you run into a comment today that you wanted to rec more than once? Share it with everybody by sending it to Top Comments!
Top Comments is a nightly series that showcases some of the site's best, funniest and most informative comments--as submitted by you!
Anyone can send a nomination. That address is:
TopComments AT gmail DOT com
(change " AT " to "@" and " DOT " to ".")
Please include a link to the comment, a few words about why you sent it in and your user name so we can credit you with the find. Deadline is 9:30 p.m., Eastern. A mailbox full of nominations is a happy mailbox, so if a comment made you laugh, cry or think, feel free to send it to the Top Comments team. Thank you!
I've been reading since I was small, but this is the first year that I've ever kept track of what I read. The number of books so far--62--surprises me. I love reading, true, but when was there time? Evidently, I found it: while nursing (book propped on baby's head); while keeping the baby company as she falls asleep; stolen moments before I drift off. (My magazine reading, however, has been mostly of the kitchen variety. As a child, I watched my mother read The New Yorker over her morning coffee, usually pausing to confess how rude it was to read at table before she picked up her interrupted article. Consequently, I feel a deep connection between light snacking and sitting down with the latest issue, though I usually try to read when no one else is around, which, in other words, is rarely.)
Looking at my list, I conclude that I am:
a) a fan of invented worlds, especially those of William Gibson;
b) in love with a fictional detective from the era of Emperor Vespasian (Falco, my dear!);
c) becoming interested in food writing;
d) and enamored of Amelia Peabody Emerson's archaeological adventures.
Which means, I think, that I fantasize about traveling to exotic places and having mysterious adventures with a good-looking tough guy who's also one hell of a cook.
Of everything I read this year, Anthony Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential" was my favorite by far. So alive! So rollicking! So foul-mouthed! So passionate about a particular and peculiar kind of work. Bourdain may open his memoir of a chef's life with a lovely Proustian moment involving a raw oyster, but the rest of the book is strictly testosterone-filled, shock-a-page gossip about what life behind the kitchen doors is really like. The tempers, the scars, the sex and drugs and Iggy Pop--the late nights at fellow chefs' joints--the unfairness of talent being allocated to the undeserving, aka Adam-No-Last-Name, whose skill with bread is rivaled only with his ability to get into trouble and lose jobs.
The chapter about Adam begins with Bourdain receiving a phone call right in the middle of a busy night. Who's calling? Adam, of course, with a request: that Bourdain and his sous-chef, Steven, feed the bread starter. Except this is what it sounds like: "Feed the bitch! Feed her or she'll die!" The starter is 35 gallons'-worth of potential heaven. It will die if not poured off, fed new water and flour and poured into a clean container. A monstrous task, in other words. I look at my little half-gallon of starter with gratitude at how easy it is to care for. As with so much of Bourdain, I'm glad I wasn't there at the time, but tickled to visit this amazing world in the good company of a paper chef.
How has your reading year been? Favorites? Books you regret having spent time on? ("Eat, Pray, Love," I'm talking to you.) I'm between books at the moment ("New Best Recipes" doesn't count) and am always looking for recommendations.
Eat, read, enjoy. Sounds good to me.
Happy Friday night, all. Glad you could make it!
***
Mail? For me? Thank you, dear readers! Tonight's mailbox included the following selections:
From DBunn:
This succinct comment by wu ming comes in a thread about how folks out here are being ripped and ruined in the present economy, and how clueless policy makers seem to be about what is actually going on.
From someone whose user name I couldn't find:
In the FP diary Palin goes birther, yg17 wants proof. The thread deteriorates from there ;D
noweasels had a great comment, too.
From cany:
Freaking funny comment by Eileen B in regard to Palin and her 'threat' in 2012 From FP here.
From mieprowan:
Bold and insightful comment from snout on my essay about how we should march on Washington.
From winterbanyan:
In Morning Feature: Get a Grip not a Gripe, NCrissieB writes a brilliant metaphor for why progressives have to work harder.
From Elise:
Serious Blogger has a comment in a great diary by Femlaw about what they would prefer to do besides taking action to help pass health care reform.
From pvlb:
Today's top comment.
From Maimonides:
This Whole Thread. But D in Northern Virginia really put the cherry on top!
From willb48:
Borkitekt has a suggestion for an unappreciated diarist.
From JML9999:
Oh those Risqué puns
Erections apparently have consequences.
From Isara:
I'd like to nominate this one, if I may. I'm still giggling, 5 minutes later.
***
Our own sardonyx brings us tonight's Top Mojo. Many thanks, sar!
Top Mojo (cskendrick/sardonyx-style) excluding search-identifiable tip jars, first diary comments, Cheers and Jeers, and Mojo Friday:
1) i hear you by thereisnospoon — 254
2) Shatner's Face says; by TexDem — 159
3) Thom Hartmann said it best today on the radio: by Eileen B — 149
4) I never saw homeless people living on sidewalks by Navy Vet Terp — 118
5) Thanks for listening. by rhetoricus — 113
6) The Hope in Afghanistan by JekyllnHyde — 109
7) Truer words by zonk — 106
8) Thank you by ask — 104
9) You didn't live in California, then by FishOutofWater — 99
10) I'm freaking out too by FishOutofWater — 91
11) Dude all sex is disgusting-- by Crashing Vor — 91
12) This is wrong on so many levels by SilverOz — 91
13) because when She zaps him by sayitaintso — 91
14) This President deserves enormous credit. by Setrak — 88
15) I figured the Bay as well... by SyntaxFeline — 84
16) Sometimes I think God could appear out of by grannyhelen — 84
17) it's the resource extraction model by wu ming — 80
18) What I love is Limbaugh's making these points by grannyhelen — 79
19) I really do wish ACORN... by Eclectablog — 76
20) The rhetoric I'm hearing at the moment by LaFeminista — 76
21) For someone who has done nothing... by Giles Goat Boy — 74
22) Until we can admit we're an imperial power by Dallasdoc — 72
23) Well, at least you're not imagining it. by Bob Johnson — 69
24) The decades-long orgy of "conservatism" by chumley — 67
25) huh? by Eileen B — 65
26) Hey teacherken by War on Error — 64
27) Beck is like a Geiger counter for stupidity. by Front Toward Enemy — 64
28) They're organized, well-financed, armed, by Jim P — 63
29) Not politically incorrect by droogie6655321 — 61
30) little known fact about Shatner: by arbiter — 60
Top Mojo with No Exclusions:
1) Tip Jar by rhetoricus — 666
2) Tip Jar by ColorOfChange — 559
3) Tip Jar by teacherken — 430
4) Tips for peace, sanity & responsible governance. by One Pissed Off Liberal — 333
5) Tip Jar by Steven D — 317
6) Tip Jar by Isara — 310
7) Alms (tips) by Muskegon Critic — 302
8) i hear you by thereisnospoon — 254
9) Tip Jar by gjohnsit — 210
10) Tip Jar by slinkerwink — 186
11) Tip Jar by RLMiller — 171
12) Tip Jar by brooklynbadboy — 167
13) Tip Jar by Chino Blanco — 163
14) Shatner's Face says; by TexDem — 159
15) Tip Jar by SilverOz — 156
16) Thom Hartmann said it best today on the radio: by Eileen B — 149
17) I never saw homeless people living on sidewalks by Navy Vet Terp — 118
18) Mojo Mug for the Troops by TexDem — 114
19) Thanks for listening. by rhetoricus — 113
20) The Hope in Afghanistan by JekyllnHyde — 109
21) Truer words by zonk — 106
22) Tip Jar by Patric Juillet — 106
23) Thank you by ask — 104
24) The Lounge is Open by TexDem — 103
25) Mojo Friday Wants You to Donate by TexDem — 101
26) CC is Watching, Donate Today by TexDem — 100
27) May you live in UNinteresting times by Hedwig — 99
28) You got one. by blue jersey mom — 99
29) I need a Mojo Friday miracle! by InsultComicDog — 99
30) You didn't live in California, then by FishOutofWater — 99