Ploafmaster General

A friend of mine recently told me that his wife saw a yet-to-be-opened bagel shop on Cary Street. Well today I saw it for myself in Carytown on my way from the bank to the farmers' market.

Jaks Bagels & Deli is expecting to open late October, and I'm pretty pumped. All you have to do is search my site for "bagel" and you'll get the picture. They're not likely to supplant my craving for porkroll, egg, and cheese sandwiches on poppy seed bagels that only Cupertino's can fulfill (in the Richmond area), but having a bagel shop closer to home has me pretty excited.

I laughed so hard at this I almost wet my pants:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2yD4yDsiP4?fs=1&hl=en_US&hd=1&w=640&h=385]
(via jnonfiction)

As of today it seems you can listen to/download two tracks for free from the upcoming Sufjan Stevens album, The Age of Adz.

Check it:

http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer.swf/album=4246425639/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=000000/

Tonight marks the start of the 2010 season of the National Football League, and last year's champions, the New Orleans Saints, face Brett Favre and the Vikings. I'll be sitting in class for at least the first quarter, but I'm excited for the return of my favorite sport, even if it looks like my New York Football Giants are in for a mixed season...again.

Dear goodness, please take a good hour or five to gawk at the photographic art of Dan Winters (Flash, yeah, but it's worth it).
(via Jason Crowgey)

Holy shnikes, there's apparently some chance that Harvey Keitel could replace Steve Carell on The Office.

Don't know how realistic this is, but it'd be hilarious to see the new boss go kinda nuts on Dwight with a stapler.

One of my favorite reasons or listening to Pandora is the discovery of new music. Tonight on my way home from class I discovered Blind Pilot, a band with some tasty acoustic-driven pop rock. Check out their video for "Go On, Say It" below:

[vimeo 5580872 w=640 h=360]

Blind Pilot "Go On, Say It" from Team G on Vimeo.

(The song I heard on Pandora, for the record, was "One Red Thread")

I feel like this has been posted all over the Internet today, but this video (as of this writing) still has fewer than 4000 views. Let your ears be glad as you see all the people mentioned in the title of this post get down to musical business in the best way.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G5JaicYuVU?fs=1&hl=en_US&hd=1&w=640&h=385]
(via too many people to list, but it bears posting everywhere)

'Cause if it's natural
Something glowing from inside
Shining all around you
It's potential has arrived.

From What is the Light by The Flaming Lips

Please do yourself a favor and watch a few of these short films about Simon's Cat. It'll make your day filled with jolliness.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tuf61OjvoPQ&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xd0d0d0&hl=en_GB&feature=player_embedded&fs=1&w=640&h=385]

PX 70 Color Shade film from The Impossible Project.
A door in a back alley off Harrison St. in Richmond, VA.

Awesome piano playing. Heart-stopping piano destruction.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcm_u6ls0Ac?fs=1&hl=en_US&hd=1&w=640&h=385]
(via yewknee)

With the All Delighted People EP only just released last Friday (Go listen! It's incredible!), this news is startlingly exciting: Sufjan Stevens has a new full-length album releasing on October 12th of this year. If you preorder The Age of Adz in the next two weeks you get a download code to snag the music in MP3 format two weeks before your physical media ships.

So. Pumped.

Mission Impossible 4...blah blah blah...Tom Cruise replacement...blah bla-- what?! BRAD BIRD is directing? The same Brad Bird who directed some of the finest animated films to grace the silver screen?

I'm actually motivated to see this now.

So it seems that a certain Mr. Stevens has added at some more shows to his touring schedule, one of which includes a particular River City...

I'll be trying to score tickets Friday morning.

On some occasions this film has some peculiar aging/color characteristics. This photo is only a week old and has taken on greenish-yellow cast.

Shot with PX 70 Color Shade from The Impossible Project, in Scott's Addition, Richmond.

Flickr user lost in pixels decided to make a pinhole camera from the shell of a freshwater mussel. Not much more to it than that, but the results are fascinating.

Grant Achatz working with Craig Schoettler on a re-imagined classic:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5PkO3kKAto?fs=1&hl=en_US&hd=1&w=640&h=385]

Oh, this was only PART of my dinner at Secco tonight.

This is the speck-wrapped hanger steak with charred local vegetables (field peas, I think, and carrots, squash, zucchini, and green beans), shaved summer truffles, and summer truffle sauce.

Uh-mazing.

Also, try the sea urchin dish. It'll rock your mouth's world.

Morning meal, last Saturday at Can Can.

Mercy!

Sufjan Stevens has released a new EP called All Delighted People, and you can listen to the whole thing for free on Bandcamp (or at the bottom of this post)! From there you can buy the entire EP for five bucks, or you can wait until next week to digitally purchase it elsewhere. Or you can wait until later this year to snag a physical copy.

Just listen! So much majesty!

http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer.swf/album=670192006/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=000000/

I found it interesting that Five Guys recently won the ranking of "best fast food burger" in the US from Zagat.

I'm not upset about that, either. They're from Virginia, the patties are thin so they get a little crispy and extra brown, and the burger buns are pretty tasty, too. But it reminds me. The full name of the restaurant is Five Guys Burgers and Fries, and I know plenty of people in different parts of the country who also love their fries.

But I hate them.

They're always a little too soggy and way undersalted. I don't want a salt lick instead of french fries, but I do want my fries to have at least a few crystals of sodium chloride across their collective surface. What is it about these fries that you folks love so much? What am I missing?