At stake is the question: Is it okay for a food personality to tweet about a restaurant on its first night? (Responses included: Yes, if it’s positive. Yes, if the writer recognizes that people care. Yes, if the person wants to be relevant.)
We* followed along, but kept mum. Sure, as food writers, we’ve got opinions. (I’m completely neutral about positive tweets, which are—since the Tapas Valencia misstep—all that Dolinsky has ever trafficked in. But I think anyone tweeting negative remarks needs to know that the repercussions can be pretty fucking serious. Michael Nagrant, a bold participant in this conversation, has failed to mention that after he tweeted about the Publican’s bad service at brunch, servers at the restaurant lost their jobs.) But as an eater, and as a reader, I honestly don’t care. And neither does the vast majority of the thousands of Twitter followers accrued by this crew of food writers. These followers RT like crazy when they find out what kind of hot dogs Lula will serve as Hot Doug’s on Halloween or what the process was behind building the oven at Nella Pizzeria or whether the $5 burger at Primehouse is worth heading over for. But when a bunch of food writers tap away on twitter about how to use twitter? And do it in a way that betrays the fact that they’re really in the conversation not so much for the philosophical discussion but rather because they think it will “strengthen their brand”? Well, it’s then that we can hear the sound of one hand tweeting.
*This post was co-written with David Tamarkin.
UPDATE: A Publican spokesperson says that no one was fired as a result of Nagrant’s tweet. Other sources disagree. But we erred in not giving the restaurant an opportunity to present its side of the story before this post first went live, and we apologize for that.
Found magazine co-creator Jason Bitner’s latest book and web project, Cassette from my Ex, inspired me to dust off a late-90s mix tape from an old college boyfriend. The tunes were a pleasant mix of hip-hop from the era—think Souls of Mischief, Rasco and Colt 45—while the B-side delivered indie rock stars like Yo La Tengo, Shellac and Jon Spencer. With boom boxes in short supply this decade, I wondered how hard it would be to digitally re-create the mix on a well stocked digital play-buy-and-share site like LaLa.com. The results were a little surprising.
The tape: Made in Madison, Wisconsin, circa 1998. Not withstanding the requisite intro, outro, instrumental interlude, Bill Cosby comic bit and a track by the mix maker’s own cheeky rap act, the original tape was packed with 27 proper songs. Nothing on the tape was more obscure than early Quintron and nothing was more mainstream than Rick James’s bawdy classic, “Give it to Me Baby” (subtle, I know).
The site: With more than 7 million songs in its library, LaLa.com seemed a promising source for turning up music that’s at least a decade old, plus it’s fully licensed so you get the convenience without the guilt. The site also lets you listen to songs in their entirety for free, buy unlimited web-only plays for 10 cents per song or download MP3 versions for 79 cents. One of its best features is that it gives you access to any existing music library you might have such as iTunes so you can listen to your music on any computer anywhere. It also lets you share playlists with friends via email or embed your playlists on a web site.
Results: The site’s offerings are vast, especially when it comes to new music. Older material wasn’t as easy to come by: Of the 27 songs I searched, only ten turned up. I was pleasantly surprised to find Thee Headcoats’ “I Don’t Like the Man I Am,” although the lack of Black Sabbath’s “Supernaut,” Yo La Tengo’s “Somebody’s Baby,” the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion’s “Cool Vee” and Shellac’s “Mouthpiece” was disappointing. Worse, a search for Fugazi resulted in this message: “This artist’s albums are not yet available for listening on Lala,” though we wonder if that might have more to do with persnickety frontman Ian MacKaye’s famous indifference to making a buck.
The folks behind the U.S. version of The Office are behind “Subtle Sexuality,” a spin-off Web series featuring the supporting ensemble behind the hit NBC comedy (Steve Carell, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer and Rainn Wilson are notably absent). “Subtle Sexuality” is shorter than previous Web series from The Office—only three episodes, just under 8 minutes total. The series culminates in the hilarious music video—clock it above.
Just when you figured out you could hook the laptop up to your flatscreen and watch NetFlix and Hulu from your easy chair within arm’s reach of the fridge an internet reality check comes along and craps on your wired lifestyle. News Corp recently announced that online TV hub Hulu will start charging in 2010. It sounds like a good, “free” thing can only last so long. Of course, Hulu is already monetized—via advertising—you know, we must sit through ads to get to the shows, so this is really an additional income stream the big wigs are talking about. Forgive me for passing on the bummer, recycled news.
I created a Flickchart account a couple of months ago, and I’m loath to even think about how many hours I’ve spent clicking away on this site, ranking the various film matchups. So, of course, the next logical step is for me to share my addiction with you, so we can all waste our time together.
We're giving away one 16GB Zune HD in TOC-ish red.
You might have heard a bit about Microsoft’s Zune before, but have you heard about the Zune HD? When I got wind of what was new in the Zune HD—which dropped in September—I must admit I was curious, impressed even, that Microsoft had digital media device (gadget to you) that was worth shelling out some dough to own. What’s the deal? The Zune HD has a built-in HD radio receiver, HD-video-capable output (to hook up to your flat-screen or your hotels when you travel with an extra HDMI A/V docking station) and a spacious 480×272 OLED touchscreen plus WiFi for instant streaming or download of music to the device from Zune Marketplace (Microsoft’s answer to the iTunes store where Zune users can also get music, videos, TV shows and podcasts). Most Zune Marketplace music selections are DRM-free. You can even buy songs directly from the HD radio mode or access millions of songs with a subscription-based Zune Pass service ($14.99/month). And you set up your Zune to sync to your PC at home wirelessly—to get new podcasts without the hassle of the dreaded cord. Sounds pretty nifty, eh? We’ve yet to secure one to review on the blog, but in the meantime, we’ve got one to give away. It happens to be red—one of the colors exclusive to ZuneOriginals.net, the Zune’s customization Web site.
Chalk this one up as another entry in my preferred Web-game category of “simple, yet addictive.” Shuffle starts you off with eight red balls, and your goal is roll those balls across the game board and knock your opponent’s yellow balls out of bounds before all of yours are gone. To do this, simply click and hold on the ball you want to move and an arrow will appear; move it around to control the direction and velocity of the ball. When you’re ready, release the cursor and let it fly. Beware though, it is possible for you to knock your own balls out of bounds when you do this. When a player wins a round, he or she loses one ball and is positioned closer to the center line. The first player to win four rounds wins the set.
Note: While the game’s sounds can be muted, there’s some music included before it starts that can be a bit loud, so you might want to turn your sound down.
When Amy Poehler’s new show, Parks and Recreation, premiered last April, comparisons to The Office were inevitable. The project was initially billed as a spin-off of the popular workplace comedy. Over time, though, the concept changed. Still, there are many things that tied it to that show. Creators Greg Daniels and Michael Shur are both producers and writers on The Office, former Office cast member Rashida Jones is a regular, a similar faux-documentary style is utilized and, like its cousin, the show’s first season took a while to find its voice.
The final season of Lost will begin in January, bringing to a close the journey of the survivors of Oceanic 815. Whether you’ve never gotten around to digging into this dense ensemble show or you’d like to revisit some long-forgotten episodes, you can now watch the first four seasons on Hulu.
When I took over the Bored at Work column last December, I began by pimping the popular Web series The Guild. This week, the show’s creator Felicia Day flashed some of her other skill sets by releasing a Guild-themed music video for the original song “(Do You Wanna Date My) Avatar.” This gem was originally shown to fans who attended The Guild’s panel at Comic-Con last month, but on Monday, the rest of the Internet got to share in the fun.
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Found magazine co-creator Jason Bitner’s latest book and web project, 
