dumont burger

... in williamsburg, brooklyn, does a perfect medium-rare.

it's also the sort of place where you could see someone with a burger in one hand and the paris review in the other. annoyingly pretentious? well... that's actually me! seriously, i bought the latest issue at spoonbill & sugartown booksellers on bedford ave the other day. it had an interesting interview with the novelist kazuo ishiguro. i was totally intrigued by the story of a radio play he once sent to the bbc:

"It was about two young people who work in a fish-and-chips cafe. They are both severely cross-eyed, and they fall in love with each other, but they never acknowlege the fact that they're cross-eyed. It's the unspoken thing between them. At the end of the story they decide not to marry, after the narrator has a strange dream where he sees a family coming toward him on the seaside pier. The parents are cross-eyed, the children are cross-eyed, the dog is cross-eyed, and he says, All right, we're not going to marry."

i had a strange emotional reaction to this. i was delighted to find this emphasis on the unspoken, perhaps a seed of his later masterpiece, The Remains of the Day. on the other hand, i was totally disturbed by that ending, probably because i've always been a bit bothered by the idea that decisions about life and partnerships are determined biologically. i know, a bit much to be brooding about over hamburgers and fries.

remixes

i'm a big fan of cover songs and remixes. i feel sorry for people who get worked up about how the original is so much better. lighten up! here are two remixes that i found recently and really liked:

holy fuck's version of radiohead's nude, part of an online remix contest.

and akira the don adds some magic to chilly gonzales' working together. if this doesn't make you dance, or at least toe tap, i give up!

oops!

a few years ago my sister found a 1997 chateau musar in a corner of an astoria wine shop, collecting dust among cheap greek and bulgarian wines. quite pleased at finding this lebanese gem, which was priced way below market, she bought one right away. but because she had too much luggage, she left it in my apartment when she flew back to washington, making me promise to save it for her. soon afterwards, she became pregnant.


so i'd been saving this bottle for when she finishes breast-feeding, which should be in a few months' time. well, i should say i was, until the other night. not to self: don't try picking out wine in the dark, especially between taking off contact lenses and putting on glasses.

when i realized my mistake my immediate thought was, "well, with those hot summers it's probably gone bad..." i must regretfully inform my sister, it had not: beautiful aroma of berries and tobacco, slightly sour but in a mellow, natural sort of way, like fresh cherries. i had imagined something quite exotic and spicy but it's more of an old world beauty. ****four stars

i went back to the old wine store this morning. a new generation is now in control of management, making the place more organized. they've even installed an online tracking+ordering system. prices are generally a bit lower than in manhattan, but now you never find a totally random, over- or under-priced bottle. so the chateau musar red now costs around $45, same as elsewhere and nearly double what the old man thought it was worth. perhaps the unrest of the past few years added to the cost. a very knowledgeable salesman tried to console me, saying the 1999 vintage is "even better" than the 1997. i'm tempted to see for myself, but maybe i should keep this one in the deepest corner of my cupboard.

young talent

i'm looking forward to seeing lykke li play live in new york next week. so young... i really hope she doesn't turn out to be a one-hit wonder.


i've recently realized that most emerging bands and artists are much younger than i am. i remember being really surprised when i heard how young Beirut was, but lately everyone seems to be in their early-20s. of course it doesn't really bother me, but sometimes it does feel a bit strange, especially when i like them.

speaking of young artists, i can't help feeling a bit protective of vampire weekend, who are very cute. i want to tell them, "now now, boys, you should know that oxford commas are not entirely superfluous..."