Chocolate Deities: Religion you can Sink Your Teeth Into

I remember being sent to chibi no gakko when I was little. Chibi no gakko is Japanese School for little kids, like a summer class where they teach you that Japanese cultural stuff. There I sweltered away in Fresno CA learning colors in a foreign language and learning dances to songs I didn't understand, with a bunch of kids who were all Japanese and really proud of it.

During this trying experience where temperataures were high and my language ability was nil, I learned about the shinto gods like this jolly fellow. You may recognize him as "that buddha guy who they put on teeshirts and have in front of Chinese restaurants" but nooo, chibi no gakko students know him as, "Hotei" the god of happiness. That's why he's fat.

Check out this chocolate Hotei. Deeelicious

The Cupcake Craze That's Sweeping the Nation!

See here fans of the large onerous overweight cake! Tiny cupcakes are the craze that's sweeping the nation. Starting with a fabled NYC bakery people have rediscovered the joy of the tiny palm sized cake. (Rumor by Dom Mah) Recently I ate at the West LA Dainties Cupcakes. (www.daintiescupcakes.com) I entered fully prepared to purchase cupcakes. I had heard so much about them during the KCRW pledge drive that I just had to have the "stupid chocolate." Which was a decadent chocolate cupcake filled with chocolate creme and dipped in this chocolate ganache. This was an awesome cupcake. the baker gave them to me and said only "Today is a good day" and smiled. I felt so blessed to be the recipient of the cupcakes that I gave them away. I only got to eat 1/4 of it because my mom and friend ate the rest. One went to my boyfriend who said it was "okay."

See more of the The Complete Cupcake Bakery List. list by merlfish at ThisNext.

Just Brothers

What was your favorite track from Radiohead’s “The Bends?” Or were you so stuck on “Pablo Honey” and its #1 single “Creep” to enjoy the experimentation? Or are you a “OK Computer” loving whoo rider?

My favorite song from “The Bends” is “Just.” I fell in love with the video for this song because it was so depressing. Its vicious guitar riffs and self-loathing lyrics made for a particularly compelling combination. Our protagonist exits his car and lays in the road. His depression is so infectious that he starts a pandemic of people who give up on life and resign to lie in the road with him. It looks like something from The Stand. It’s great. It also happens to be Radiohead tracks and drummer Phil Selway's favourite song on "The Bends",

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better . . .this song came along on www.krcw.com’s Morning Becomes Eclectic. Not only is Mark Ronson the mastermind behind that toe tapping “Valerie” song with Amy Winehouse singing lead, he organized this cover (as depicted above.) This cover includes a dynamite combination of snappy horns (ala your high school jazz band) and dusty drum breaks.

Also check out the awesome graph art.
For his cover Mark Ronson not only enlisted the help of the formidable Daptones horn section (The Dap Kings) but Alex Greenwald, the lead singer of Phantom Planet (best known for "California", the theme to "The OC"). "Just" belongs to the cover canon of Quantic Soul Orchestra's "Get a Move On", Alice Russell's "Seven Nation Army" and the Daptone's own "What (Have You Done For Me Lately". The man behind "Just" is one of the most sought after DJs in the world and, as one half of AllIDo Records, Ronson is currently working with Chicago rapper Rhymefest, Australian soul singer Daniel Merryweather and fabulous pop goddess Christina Aguilera.

Wild Hibiscus

Has anyone actually tried this? The thought of adding things to champagne is always sexy. Strawberries, caviar, yes . . . but i've yet to find a petal in my bubbly. I have to admit I am intrigued with hibiscus or rose even.

#1 Single : "Fat B*tch" - the horror story of a summer associate's musical legacy

(lovingly borrowed from above the law )


X-Summers: The Bruised Booze Cruiser
Labor Day has come and gone. But even though summer is unofficially over, we still have a few summer associate stories for you.

We heard lots of rumors about the Chicago summer who, as described by one source, "got decked by a girl" after a firm-sponsored, Fourth of July boat cruise. According to one version of the story, he showed up to work the next day black and blue.

After poking around, we've assembled what we believe to be a fairly reliable account of the incident. The black-and-blue part isn't true, but the general outlines of the story are accurate:

1. Superhero name: The Bruised Booze Cruiser
2. Special power(s): Improvised musical composition; ability to piss off women, partners, and other important people.
3. Summered: Kirkland & Ellis, Chicago, summer 2007
4. Claim to fame: From our tipster:

After the Fourth of July boat cruise, one of the summers tied one too many on. At the after-party, while passing a drink to a friend, he stuck it right across the face of a girl standing nearby.
Understandably annoyed, the girl said something sort of snarky. He responded by a signing an improvised song to her, which went something like, "Fat bitch, fat bitch, you are such a fat bitch."

After he went on for about a minute, she decided she had had enough of his ditty. She emptied her drink over his head -- then socked him in the jaw.

Awesome.

5. What happened to him: In terms of his medical condition, he did NOT show up black and blue the next day, as rumored:

First, the cruise was on the 3rd, and we had the 4th off. Second, when he showed up on the 5th, he looked pretty much fine -- except for a hint of wounded pride.
As for his professional fate, we hear that he got a "cold offer" (which is when the firm extends you an offer, so you can tell prospective employers when you re-interview that you did get an offer, but makes clear that you shouldn't take it).

Apparently the coldness of the offer wasn't due to the after-party altercation. The after-party wasn't a firm-sponsored gathering, and it wasn't attended by partners. But this summer committed other errors:

He managed to piss off a partner at a golf outing as well. The partner had gone on a long vacation with his wife, and [the SA] starts blabbing about how “that must have sucked” and “I would die being with my wife along for that long.” The partner politely says something to the effect of “no, actually I really like my wife we get along great.”
Not getting the hint, [the SA] keeps blabbing about how awful that must have been. Word is the partner was so peeved he complained to recruiting.


Update: A somewhat different version of this story appears here.

Alberto Frias' Transport - Illuminated sleeping pod!

Check out this space pod. That looks really spacey. I so want to sleep there. Does the UV keep you awake at night?