I've been on a Korean food kick lately. I'm gonna say it: bulgoki is wonderful. There's an obscure Korean late-night kareoke bar way out in Chesterfield next to Thai Buree called Koreana. The menu looks expensive, but I'm gonna bet that it's good. Also makes me wanna learn how to read Korean. It's just no fun to sit there and see words and hear other people singing, but not be able to connect the two together yerself.

You + U. City Grill = inexpensive happiness.

I might be helping to arrange to get some local bands on campus for some kinda pre-WILD Team 31 concert. I'm all for that.

I've been messing with beats more lately. You're not allowed to hear yet.
- posted by Eric @ 3:35 AM
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So much of what I loved about St. Louis is gone now. Blake Brokaw's restaurants were some of my favorites in town. Now, if I want anything remotely like what I could get at Tangerine or Hungry Buddha, it'd require that I go to Tony's branch-off Anthony's Bar, which while it sounds amazing, I think I lack the money, dress clothes, and age to belong in. Lake Forest Bakery, which I would affirm was the best in town, and made nearly every one of my birthday cakes, has disappeared without replacement. The cakes at Dierberg's just don't cut it.

Baton Bob. One of the most unique figures around St. Louis. Was continually bullied by local police officers, so he left. Atlanta loves him now. Washington Avenue is quickly changing from a cool little area for those of creative mind and limited money to hang out in to land of the too-swank(/expensive)-for-you boutique and/or bistro (that said, I've met the chef from the Lucas Park Grille, who seems like a really cool guy). When we were in Cuba, we once or twice went to a section of Old Havana that pandered to the (mainly European) tourists. Everything was expensive, slick, and designed in the style of a European boutique. Needless to say, it wasn't very accessible to the actual residents of Havana (no one could afford this stuff). Something seems eerily familiar about this. The Loop? Love to see it thrive, but I wonder if chain stores and restaurants won't latch onto it to the point where all individuality and spirit are gone.

A lot of my favorite local bands are history now. Julia Sets? Gone. Johnny Magnet? Sexicolor? Gone, and Jill moved. Sullen? Gone.

The Centro Sociale/Tin Ceiling disappeared. The Commonspace is no longer a physical meeting place. The best things about this city always die. I feel like you can't thrive here unless your name starts with a "Cheesecake" and ends with a "Factory."
- posted by Eric @ 10:21 PM
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I tabled for WUnderground today. I think with all of the people who signed up, we probably will have about a 600% increase in the number of members/writers we have. The people, they love the stuff. I'm excited to see what the future of the paper's gonna be...

I also bought Wigs On Fire!, a noise rock B-52's tribute album (featuring a few St. Louisans). Pretty out there, this stuff.

I found out that a very old friend of mine (we're talking like, age five here) is engaged! I'm really happy for him (and also feel old)!
- posted by Eric @ 10:44 PM
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With all of the time-outs and dropped wireless connections on campus here, I've come to the conclusion that I was better off with the 56k modems at my mom's and dad's houses.

Edit: The connection timed out again while I was trying to post this.
- posted by Eric @ 5:36 PM
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Thoughts:
I don't care about football.

Either I haven't been paying enough attention (which is true), or this is just an especially good lineup this time around (which is also true), but the Assembly Series this semester is really interesting:
Bob Kerrey, former NE Democratic senator and member of the 9/11 commission, Tue. Feb. 8 at 4pm
Saul Williams, Feb. 16 (I think the presentation will be at Graham Chapel?)
Murray Gell-Mann, the physicist who discovered the quark, Thu. Mar. 3, 4pm
Sherman Alexie: "Without Reservations: An Urban Indian's Comic, Poetic, and Highly Irreverent Look at the World," Mar. 16
Seth MacFarlane (how's that for you, Family Guy fans?), Mar. 30
Robert Moses, Apr. 6
- posted by Eric @ 6:37 PM
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Johnny Carson died! As someone whose parents let him stay up all the time to watch the Tonight Show while a toddler, this is upsetting. Funny, funny man. Rest in peace, Johnny.
- posted by Eric @ 2:54 PM
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I bought Daydream Nation and candy dots.

Bite me.

Your turn, Donnybrook.
- posted by Eric @ 7:41 PM
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To whom it may concern:
The Manchester/Rock Hill Goodwill has a new, still packaged copy of the Tori Amos live/studio 2-CD album To Venus And Back for $2.
- posted by Eric @ 5:43 PM
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Ugh - Life Aquatic.

Just saw it yesterday, and I gotta say - Wes Anderson needs to try something else. I was just watching it and I felt like... hasn't he already made this movie like, three times? A good few characters felt like rehashes of Royal Tenenbaums characters, it's the same "living in past glories" thing he's done in every other movie, and limiting the setting to a boat for most of the movie made the movie a bit monotonous, to boot. It's like he was just coasting on style for this movie. One hour and 40 or so minutes later, I didn't care about any of the characters, nor, really, anything that happened. The only thing that kept me interested on any level was the promise that I'd be hearing more Bowie throughout the movie.

But afterwards, Curb Your Enthusiasm and ice cream made a wonderful antidote.

Also: beef Wellington is the best thing ever. And you should download "Eres un cabrón, hijoputa" from the (Latin American?) Spanish version of the South Park movie.
- posted by Eric @ 2:32 PM
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I think I finally see what's at work here. Ashlee Simpson is supposed to be some little K-Mart version of Karen O. of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, isn't she?
- posted by Eric @ 7:29 PM
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Something that boggles my mind: in Wash U's Wohl student center, there hasn't been a new copy of the Arch City Chronicle on the racks for months, but there's always a steady supply of copies of Ladue News. The Ladue News-es almost seem to be taken more frequently than the ACCs.

Whenever I can get my hands on the page of the attractive clown-shaped collection of jewels advertised in a previous issue of Ladue News, I'll post it up here. Seriously, it's awesome.
- posted by Eric @ 3:06 PM
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While I'm at it, does anyone recommend any one specific work by:
Sonic Youth (I got Corporate Ghost for Christmukkah and I'm lovin' it like McDonald's. Several thousand times more than McDonald's, actually)
Billie Holiday
XTC
Ella Fitzgerald
Patsy Cline

- posted by Eric @ 6:14 PM
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Can anyone reading this recommend any specific albums or works by the following artists?:

Calexico
Leonard Cohen
Low
My Bloody Valentine
Neko Case
- posted by Eric @ 5:02 PM
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