Sorry for the lack of activity around these parts. Been hard at work on something I’ll hopefully be able to share before too long. In the meantime: Four Lions, which I wrote about back when this site first went live, is finally rolling out in U.S. theaters. And in other UK comedy news: there’s a new Alan Partridge series! It’s really good! See for yourself:
Big indicator of how different life is in Los Angeles? The porn industry shuts down after an unidentified actor, known publicly as Patient Zero, is diagnosed with HIV, and it’s covered on local TV as a (more or less) straight-ahead business story. Even bigger indicator? You bring up how unusual that is at a party and everyone looks at you like you just fell off the turnip truck.
I suppose if it had been a story about the Gush [caution: tread lightly with that link], people might have been more taken aback.
Unless you live in the area or you’re a devoted fan of Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, the recent closing of Philadelphia’s Hot Potato Cafe likely won’t mean much. For me, it’s the sad conclusion to a bizarre turn of events involving my friend Brian McManus, a guy I’ve known half my life and who Ramsay once claimed, to my great amusement and disbelief, “has the power to make or break restaurants.” Turns out Ramsay was right. At least about the “break” part.
With all the recent hubbub over Cordoba House and Koran burnings and such, I thought about this year’s anniversary of 9/11 more than usual. Typically, when September 11th rolls around, I really only think about one thing: that it’s my friend Paul Koob’s birthday. I know a lot of people out there have a birthday that falls on 9/11, but to my mind, Paul carries a particularly heavy burden, for if he fails to celebrate by eating a whole deep-fried red snapper from El Barco, the terrorists win.