http://www.riffs.com/user/david/ david's recent reviews Copyright 2005 ATTAP Technologies Inc. Jake and Alex http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss
then you got bought by coke.  and coke kills union activists.  vitamin water now comes with blood on its caps, and i don't associate with union-busters.
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the room is lovely, and the lack of windows, combined with the bright colors, intricate structures, ghost-like staff, and ornate details-- remove you from reality in a compelling way.

it was a thoroughly pleasant experience and i will definitely return.
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they're a greedy organization that uses its monopoly to exploit people.  kudos to band liek the grateful dead, phish and pearl jam, who have set up their own ticketing systems to deliver tickets to their fans at reasonable prices.
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all that glitters...
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but i drink budweiser occassionally for one reason.  after september 11th, there were many attempts to use the events of that day to promote various agendas.  i found virtually all of them distasteful at best.  budweiser, however, played a wonderfully touching commercial during the super bowl the following year.  it simply featured the clydesdales walking along the brooklyn bridge, stopping on the span, and kneeling down and bowing their heads in the direction of downtown.  there were no explicit references to anything, no flag-waving or self-promotion -- just a nice tribute to the downtown.

so i'll have a bud once in a while.  long live the downtown.
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that said, it's even better to use washable rags.
]]> http://www.riffs.com/home/10642975/8735/ http://www.riffs.com/home/10642975/8735/ http://www.riffs.com/movies/10406535/8631/ http://www.riffs.com/movies/10406535/8631/  exploited and they hung us
 i'd like to take a moment to say:
 fuck columbus!"
]]> http://www.riffs.com/people/10642418/8149/ http://www.riffs.com/people/10642418/8149/ ]]> http://www.riffs.com/people/10345887/8119/ http://www.riffs.com/people/10345887/8119/ ]]> http://www.riffs.com/news/10642717/7921/ http://www.riffs.com/news/10642717/7921/
he's disgusting.  he uses his family members, many of whom are too young to understand what they're doing, to spread his hatred.  i went to a counter-protest (along with 300 of my closest friends) the last time he was in new york-- it was september of 2003, and he and his zombies had arrived from topeka to protest funds that were going to the harvey milk school, an alternative school in new york city that provides a safe space for gay, lesbian, transgendered and questioning high-schoolers.  this motherfucker flew from kansas to yell at these kids-- many of whom who had already felt persecuted in their original schools-- on their first day of classes.  young kids-- 14 to 18. 

this was bad enough.  but, consistent with his god's-wrath-as-punishment-for-homosexuals routine, he had a sign that read (and it's difficult for me to type this) "thank god for september 11th."  and it was being held by a girl who was about 8 years old.  right in the faces of the cops who were protecting them.

i'm all for free speech.  but fred phelps, i told you this that day, and i'll tell you again: your hatred is not welcome here.  you're a self-aggrandizing punk bitch who hates what he can't understand.  i hope you're right about one thing: that there's a hell.  i also hope it has one resident: you.  and i hope you get there soon.

maybe he's succeeded.  this otherwise calm riffr has been reduced to a storm of curses.  but i'll play your game, fred phelps.  i'll ramp up the rhetoric.  because however stupid i'll sound, you'll always sound stupider.
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and, like boots said:

Everybody wanna hear the lick
Every one a y'all is getting pimped
Every time i spit i'm feelin ripped
Every cancer is a homicide
Every boss better run and hide
Every human is some kin to Black
Every Visa got a pin to crack
Every verse is from the cardiac
Every search is involuntary
Every inmate want commisary
Every bank note is promissory
Every broke motherfucker finna form a gang
and when we come we takin everything.]]> http://www.riffs.com/else/10346652/829/ http://www.riffs.com/else/10346652/829/
now, i'd much rather have them catch a mechanical problem on the ground than in the air.  but there was no reason why they couldn't have tested the plane beforehand, or had another plane waiting.  i missed my connection, and when i talked to a customer service rep on a delta house line (delta direct), she quickly became exasperated with me and insisted that there was nothing she could do to help me.  she offered to fly me back to new york at 6:55 am, arriving at 4:13pm the next day (my original arrival time was 11:25 pm that night), and was quite sure that there was no other solution.

i decided to talk to someone face to face, so i waited in a line for two hours.  when i finally got to someone, the next plane to SLC had already left, meaning any possible connections there were moot.  this women, though, was quite helpful.  she found a jetblue flight from SLC for me, but since they don't have a reciprocal arrangement, i had to make the reservation myself.  i bought a one-way ticket, and she put me on the next plane to SLC, where i flew jetblue and arrived at 5:25, 6 hours after i thought i would.

here are my problems with delta, then: mechanical failure, no backup plan, no additional customer service representatives when things went wrong, a rude service rep (NOT bambi at the airport, who was helpful and nice), and inefficiency in refunding my money (it should be on its way immediately).

so delta: you owe me $604.30, which includes my full ticket price, the difference between the cab i took and what i would have given my friend for gas had he picked me up as planned, reimbursement for the phone calls that i had to make, and a very generous hourly rate for my time (with two hours free, which is a generous grace period for the plane to arrive late).  i'll settle for the full ticket price, though.  and i will never fly you again.

update: i have corresponded with delta repeatedly over the past few months, and have made no progress in gettnig reimbursed.  i hate them very much.

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i'm not going to get into a debate about the best burgers in new york, or how this compares to corner bistro, which i love.  but i will say this; i love this place.  i always order a bacon blue cheese burger medium, and it's always stellar.  and large.  with HEAPING piles of bacon.  the fries are hit & miss, so i usually get the onion rings instead.  but oh, the burgers.  massive.  dripping.  so wonderfully simple-- less spiced than those at the bistro (which i love, so don't hate).  filling.  satisfying.

and they have some good whiskey there as well.  a great place to go in midtown.
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but when you figure out what to do long before the geniuses, it's not that rewarding.  don't expect too much, and only read it if you want fluff.
]]> http://www.riffs.com/books/5307787/7520/ http://www.riffs.com/books/5307787/7520/ http://www.riffs.com/people/10642563/7278/ http://www.riffs.com/people/10642563/7278/
what to do if they're leaning on you with your buddy in the cell next door?  how to frame the double if-then, two variables, one consequence?  two 2 x 2 has all the answers, even if you haven't asked the questions yet.  it's the black box, the apex of choice, the reason and the proof.

long live the 2 x 2.
]]> http://www.riffs.com/else/10642587/7357/ http://www.riffs.com/else/10642587/7357/ http://www.riffs.com/news/10642519/7273/ http://www.riffs.com/news/10642519/7273/
i first heard natalia zukerman when she opened for melissa ferrick at maxwells in the summer of 2005.  she also opened at joe's pub around thanksgiving.  she's amazing live - bitter, sad, but optimistic lyrics delivered with a wry smile - but i'll try to stick to this album and let you read more about her here.

the album should be out in a few weeks.  there are at least two songs on it that blow me away, so i wanted to get a riff out there as soon as possible (like fernando with match point, i couldn't wait to talk about it).

the first song that i love is the title track.  on its surface, it's about not getting to see new orleans before the flood, but the lyrics speak to a complex dependence that two people have on each other.  with her trademark mophing choruses, she sings "thought you were the only one, thought you were the pretty one, thought you would be there"-- simple and plaintive, but more tragic after the next chorus.  it's set up with "the only think i can think so say is that i never saw that city fair," making a reference to the destroyed town, followed by "and i am not the only one, i am not the pretty one, if you're not there."  now, i am loathe to indulge in using other people's tragedies to deliver a message, but i think this song deals with new orleans with reverence, and i love the fluid shifts from the city to the other person, which go on throughout the song.

the other song that i've heard her sing is haunted house, which is just so good.  it's aggressive from the beginning: "you made me wretched, you made me feel stupid, you made me feel ugly, without even trying / you made me want you, then you made me feel nothing, you made me promise, when you knew i was lying" over a looping blues guitar.  and you make me so sad, baby, worse than death, but this is what i wanted.  that's what this revolving chorus is about: "this is what we wanted, this is just what we wanted, like a house wants to be haunted, is this what we wanted."  it's one thing to be immersed in sadness, it's another thing to roll around in it like a pig in shit.  one is horrifying, the other is tragically beautiful sometimes, like in this song.  the image in the last verse: a boarded-up house with a squeaky floor, a sign on the door that says "this is what we wanted"... that does it for me.

i can't wait for it to come out!!!

(2-15-06) update!  my copy arrived this morning, and it's amazing. 


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some creepy dudes in this one.  great characters, harrowing scenes, constant action + excitment, and nice exploration of the characters: just deep enough, not too much.
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