cleolinda | Most excellent linkspam (Reply)

Golden Globes tonight, also known as the Drinky Oscars. Meryl Streep is hilarious when she's sloshed, I might add, so tune in for that--NBC at 7:00 pm (CST), I think. I usually blog the Globes--I actually had a bad dream about missing the Globes, if that tells you anything--but as always, I have a very bad seating arrangement (TV to my right and slightly behind me; a lot of craning involved), so I can't vouch for the quality of that blogging. Actually, I have little to no interest in the TV awards, so that ought to afford me a little catch-up time to write. Of course, the Globes are a frickin' picnic compared to the Oscars, which are generally four hours of furious neck-crane typing, after which I am completely useless for about 36 hours.

Speaking of which: Globes Do Away with Goody Bags. "This latest move comes in light of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences' announcement in August that it, too, had settled up with the IRS for past swag until 2005 and would no longer be doling out the usual 'freebies' to Oscar presenters. It was reported last year that the IRS was looking at a $1.2 million haul from the Academy Awards alone."

Deaths: Robert Anton Wilson (no, really); jazz musician Alice Coltrane dead at 69; man known as Secret Santa dies in Mo.

Mourners quietly reflect at Kings' graves.

Camper rescued after weeks in the wild.

Tests may help end 'bubble boy' disease.

Several boys die copying Saddam hanging.

'Red Crystal' debuts to protect medics.

Government: Boy Scouts set 2002 Utah wildfire.

particle_person: "Remember 1/11: Stupidest terrorist attack ever. Terrorists Blow Up Toilet in Athens Embassy with Rocket. Nobody was hurt."

Newsweek spills contents of O.J. Simpson book. My emphasis:

Miller, in this week's Newsweek, said, "What is striking about the chapter I read ... is how closely it tracks with the evidence in the case -- and how clearly Simpson invokes the classic language of a wife abuser. "In his crude, expletive-laced account, Simpson suggests Nicole all but drove him to kill her," he said. Miller said that Simpson tells how he drove to his ex-wife's home with a friend called Charlie and encountered her and Goldman. But Simpson stops short of describing their stabbings. Miller said Simpson wrote that his ex-wife came at him like a "banshee." He added, "She loses her balance and falls hard, her head cracking against the ground. Goldman assumes a karate stance, further angering Simpson. He dares the younger man to fight. Then, in the book, Simpson pulls back. He writes, 'Then something went horribly wrong, and I know what happened, but I can't tell you exactly how."

Interesting wording for a "hypothetical account."

C-SPAN: "THERE ARE KLINGONS IN THE WHITE HOUSE!"

Bilingualism delays onset of dementia.

Missing tubby tabby returned to owner.

Nazi Racoons on the March in Europe. I can only assume they are in league with the armadillos marching on--where was it, New Jersey?

Top Bollywood stars get engaged.

Illness forces Minogue to cancel shows.

Scorsese wins major critic group's awards.

The Broadcast Film Critics Association awards, with Best Ensemble for Little Miss Sunshine and Best Composer for Philip Glass, for The Illusionist (it's so nice that the latter hasn't been totally forgotten. I had my mother sit down and watch it, and she loved it--she said she even liked it better than The Prestige, but she fully admits that this was because of the respective endings of both movies).

Depp to produce Alexander Litvinenko movie.

Hobbit Hostilities Escalate.

Trailers: Black Snake Moan, Blades of Glory.

Meryl Streep to do Mamma Mia?

New stils: The Number 23.

'Lost' producers discuss series' end. "Makers of the tropical island drama "Lost" say they're talking with ABC executives about setting an end date for the series."

Singer Paula Abdul cancels interviews after video of "the television star slurring and gesticulating."

Independent Booksellers Face Major Retailer Pricing for Potter Book Seven: "Despite a lack of a definitive release date, let alone a set price, several independent booksellers have said they will not be stocking Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows because they will be unable to make a profit. However the paper goes on to note that a majority of the independent stores would stock the book 'in order to retain customer loyalty.'"

Woman dies of water intoxication after partcipating in water contest for a Nintendo Wii. Ah, catching up to the Playstation death toll, I see.

Tuscan Whole Milk at Amazon: read the reviews and look at the pictures. Trust me.

entropy_and_me: "Have you heard about the massively multi-player Pirates of the Caribbean game that Disney plans to launch this spring? One article describing it and their other future plans (including a social networking function) a little more in depth is here. Another article saying that the game will be free is here."

What's Noka Worth?, from

almostnever: dallasfood.org's blistering exposé on the most ~~overpriced~~ expensive chocolate in the world, making the startlingly well-researched accusation that Noka simply buys Bonnat couverture, melts it into plain tablets or simplistic truffles, and resells it at a markup of 1,300%, all while hedging or even outright lying that they "make" chocolate. The most surprising thing I learned from the ten-part article was that most if not all chocolatiers buy couverture in bulk from chocolate-makers--and any reputable chocolatier will be more than happy to tell you which one(s) they use, because they are, after all, doing more with the chocolate than just MELTING IT DOWN. For comparison, Dallas Food asked twenty different chocolatiers, and they all promptly replied, in person, by phone, or by email, as to which couvertures they use (Vosges, which my sister likes to get for Christmas: "everything from Valrhona (French) to Felchlin (Swiss) to Belcolade (Belgium) and much in between"). Dallas Food, on the other hand, was only able to figure out that Noka uses Bonnat--having been point-blank refused the information by the founder--by process of elimination, in which only Bonnat could have supplied the single-origin, non-vanilla, non-soy lecithin, extra-cocoa-butter chocolate as described on each Noka ingredient label, which was then confirmed by a blind taste test. And, as Dallas Food is quick to point out, Bonnat is a fine chocolate--which you can buy much more cheaply from Bonnat itself, rather than pay, at best, $309 per pound for remolded, otherwise-untouched chocolate. And then the undercover Noka PR guy shows up.