Erudite pundit brothers Christopher and Peter Hitchens have been estranged for four years and no one told me? Apparently, it's over a rather lame Stalin joke. This is just like that episode of Frasier where Niles gets upset over Frasier's refusal to acknowledge the necessity of Lenin's crushing of the Kronstadt rebellion!
Maybe they're right, that the boob tube really does shorten our attention spans. Because we can't begin to understand why the NYPD still has no clue on yesterday's consulate bombing in midtown (they're not even sure the Brits were the target anymore) when we know Sipowicz would have figured it out, found the skell junkie behind it, and even had a quick existential crisis, all in just an hour. (Even better: Fontana and Green would have it wrapped up in just a half-hour or so, because McCoy needs his chance to work up some righteous indignation.) It sucks when life isn't like TV. JO
What was the goal of this morning's bombings at the British consulate in midtown? To somehow affect the British election, happening today? To somehow affect New Yorkers, who aren't terribly fond of bombings? To screw up Third Avenue traffic? A certain British playboy-about-town acquaintance of ours suggests that maybe it was a plot to silence Tina Brown. Her Knight in shining armo(u)r, hubby Harry Evans, was scheduled to co-host "a British Elections Night Party" (the invitation, natch, is rather restrained) tonight at that very consulate. Coincidence?
No jokes here, even. We're just freaked. Someone set off two "improvised explosive devices"military-ese for the pipe bombs and whatnot Iraqis would rather throw at U.S. soldiers than the roses Dick Cheney promisedin front of the British consulate in midtown this morning. The IEDs were planted in the flowerpot security barrier things in front of the consulate, which it turns out are great places to hide bombs. Sort of defeats the purpose, no? On top of last weekend's second murder of some kid in the LES, we're not sure we're leaving the house anymore. JO
Because Denton says Gawker must be about New York, I spent all day yesterday trying to figure out a local angle on this photo. Then it came to me as I filled my tank on Northern Boulevard in Queens and thought, "Wow, $2.55 a gallon for premium! What a bargain!" Peeling off $40 and handing it over, I paused to thank God that our fundamentalist President and Saudi Arabia s fundamentalist Prince Abdullah are obviously thick as thieves. —MG
Happy Lowest Common Denominator Day!
So maybe we're a few weeks early with our trumpeting of Kwanzaa (the holiday starts on December 26), but our favorite faux food company, Kraft, has their Kwanzaa menu suggestions available on their website. The good people at Kraft remind us that Kwanzaa is all about attaching "heritage" to stereotypes and, if you're anything like us, you'll be atwitter over the idea cooking up some butter beans, collard greens, and cornbread. We'd contemplate what Kraft suggests as holiday-appropriate after-dinner activities, but our court-ordered sensitivity training forbids it.
Kwanzaa Menu [Kraft Foods via Coppertone]
If you haven't seen it by now, Madame Tussauds London wax museum gives the traditional nativity scene a celebuwhore twist.
