Mavs by 9

When I hear people say the NBA is boring, not what it used to be, etc., I have absolutely no idea what they could be talking about. The world's most complete athletes doing their intricate, collectively improvised ballet, playing every game as if it mattered. Nothing like it.

The Great Hamster of Alsace...

... sounds like it could be the title of a Church official of some sort, or a delicious French preparation, or perhaps a psychedelic band. But no, it is in fact an endangered critter, and one of those fortunate critters that is both handsome and adorable... like George Clooney I suppose.

Rockin' with ukuleles and Tuaregs

A couple of recent recommendations from Robert Christgau do not disappoint:
tUnE-yArDs, W H O K I L L: super-cool set of tuneful but edgy songs by Merrill Garbus, she of the soulful voice, triphoppy loops, and excellent uke.
Bombino, Agadez: Saharan electric guitar godliness.
Still plenty new to be heard under the sun!

Beautiful, TNC

I haven't seen X-Men: First Class, and it seems fairly likely that I will not, but I will always gladly read Ta-Nehisi Coates on whatever he wants to write about. His blog is a lot better than mine, so go over there.

I love veggies, but...

... if God had intended for us to eat sprouts he would not keep lacing them with E. coli...

Update: The sprouts have been exonerated, for now. I still don't like 'em much...

No, Professor Diamond, a Nobel is not enough...

Maybe you should try bein' a regular dumb-ass like the Senator, instead of insulting him by acting all intelligent and shit.

Manly man, I am?

After dropping my son off in Santa Cruz this afternoon, I popped over to the UCSC Arboretum to check out the South African protea, many still in bloom. Lovely! Then hit the gift shop and examined the Arboretum aprons... handsome, but I decided not to purchase... On my way home I stopped at Piazza's to pick up some fragrant fresh CA peaches, and asparagus for pasta primavera... gotta try that new Cook's Illustrated recipe, you know...

So why is it that I feel the NBA Finals on ABC is not marketing to me?

Caf-fiends

Like addicts gathered outside the methadone clinic, the bleary-eyed customers line up every morning at Philz Coffee on Middlefield in Palo Alto. Oh yes, I am occasionally among them, even though I also brew my own at home. The prices are a bit steep, but you get what you pay for. I usually drink it black, but the other day I tried their Turkish with cream and medium sugar. Just about the best cup o' joe I've ever had. I'm trying not to order it again anytime soon... that would be a particularly hard habit to shake.