kate

Ghost in the Shell poster by Martin Ansin for MondoCon.

The great thing about Fox News is that it's only Tuesday and you're already about to see the dumbest thing you'll see all week.

In this case, it's a clip from Fox's weekend morning show, where three people with the collective brains of a sack of doorknobs turn their reasoned and well-thought out opinions to the world of comic books. Specifically taking on Jason Aaron and Russell Dauterman's upcoming run on Thor, where the iconic Marvel hero will get a new identity as a woman, and complaining about Wonder Woman's costume in the upcoming Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice film by comparing it to Jim Lee's redesign from four years ago that, according to them, appears to be a product of what they characterize as fundamentalist Sharia Law.

No, really, this dope on the left actually says that.

Continue reading…

I sometimes see people ask why so often characters in a comedy anime will explain a joke after it’s happened, as the idea of doing so is, at least in English, considered a sure-fire way to kill any and all humor (I call it the Jay Leno Effect). I’ve been doing a bit of reading about Japanese humor recently though, and based on it I think I have a better understanding of why this happens.

Japanese social interactions are loosely governed by two concepts: “honne,” or one’s true feelings, and “tatemae,” what one displays outwards to the public. While I think it’s a mistake to put too much stock into this distinction (believing Japanese people cannot express themselves is sort of ridiculous), the explanation I’ve read is that honne and tatemae are central to certain types of Japanese humor, particularly manzai comedy. In manzai, the idea of having the boke (fool) and the tsukkomi (straight-man) is that the boke does something or says something ridiculous, and the tsukkomi responds with a sharp retort and/or a wack in order to correct the boke.

When it comes to anime, I think that actually when another character “explains the joke,” it’s not to tell the audience in case they didn’t understand. The idea is that something so unbelievable just happened that, rather than letting it slide and preserving the situation (tatemae), the person feels compelled to express his or her true feelings about it (honne). Essentially, the act of explaining the joke is part of the humor itself, as it essentially shows how the event was so jarring or absurd that the character had no choice but to tell it like it is. Sometimes you see characters in anime do this silently, taking advantage of the fact that the format allows us to be privy to their inner thoughts.

Of course, not all jokes can be explained by this, and in fact I’ve also read that some Japanese humor is about being able to create laughter on the inside without it spilling outside, which might explain certain slice of life humor like Hidamari Sketch and Yotsuba&! and the like. That said, I find myself laughing out loud at both of those titles pretty often, so who knows.

Sure, autumn means pumpkin spice (so much pumpkin spice), but it also means apple-cider doughnuts, the seasonal speciality that Grub Street most looks forward to. The ideal place to eat them is at a bucolic cider mill, watching the leaves turn colors, but the good news is that excellent cider doughnuts are also for sale at food trucks, bakeries, and Greenmarkets all over the city. Here are ten spots where you can sate your in-city cider-doughnut cravings.

Carpe Donut
Price: $2.25
This food truck, founded in Charlottesville, Virginia, debuted in New York last year, and made it into Cheap Eats 2013. Follow @CarpeDonutNYC on Twitter to chase down your next hot, fresh, fried-dough fix. Bonus: You can opt to turn your humble fritter into a FroDo, a doughnut sandwich with a scoop of vanilla ice cream in the middle.

Peter Pan Donut
Price: $1.10
This beloved Greenpoint standby serves up a predictably great version of the seasonal classic.

Terri
Price: $2.76
The vegan doughnut at this vegetarian, quick-service joint, with locations in Flatiron and FiDi, would be an ideal accompaniment to an afternoon cup of coffee.

Dough
Price: TBD
This Bed-Stuy bakery — with its first Manhattan location on the way — is launching a pear-apple cider doughnut in October. Exact price and availability are still be sorted, but as with all things Dough-related, you can be sure this will be a winner.

Breezy Hill Orchard
Price: $1
This Hudson Valley orchard has stands stationed at several of the city's Greenmarkets, meaning you can approximate a cider-mill trip in the city with its cinnamon-sugar doughnuts.

Jack's Stir Brew Coffee
Price: $3.50
The coffee chainlet is known for its organic, fair-trade coffees, but it also makes all of its cider doughnuts in-house.

Baked by Butterfield
Price: $3
For true health nuts: The vegan-cinnamon apple cider doughnuts at this Upper East Side Bakery are baked, not fried.

Doughnuttery
Price: $6 for six mini doughnuts
Located inside Chelsea Market, this shop serves its sugary cider fritters by the bagful, in either a tart mulled green apple, or a sweet red apple variety. Fancy!

Babycakes
Price: $3.95
The all-vegan bakery dishes out a cinnamon-flavored donut with apples dipped in a cider flavored glaze.

The Cinnamon Snail
Price: $2
The Vendy Award-winning food truck carries a cider doughnut year-round. The vegan specialities are made with local cider, fried in organic oil, and topped with cinnamon and sugar.

Read more posts by Vicky Gan

Filed Under: grub guides, apple cider doughnuts, babycakes, baked by butterfield, breezy hill orchard, carpe donut, dough, doughnuttery, jack's stir brew, new york, peter pan, terri, the cinnamon snail

There are a pair of pineapples sitting in the window of Cafe el Presidente (30 West 24th Street, 212-242-3491), Tacombi's new outpost in the Flatiron, and their spiny visages are an invitation to...

It’s been a while since I talked about a seinen manga. Not that I’ve turned into a fujoshi purist but I feel like if I start talking seinen manga again, I wouldn’t know where to start or to stop. As it is, my manga reading list has become lengthy and I honestly haven’t had the time to read a new title. And knowing my manga habits, I would read texts like voracious hungry manga monster who can’t get enough of one series or a genre.

However, thanks to a really long layover during my last research trip, I managed to load my tablet with a couple of manga I’ve been wanting to read. One of which was a curious title I’ve been hunting for the longest time. It has a mix of two of some of my favourite things in the world: food and foot to mouth to cuisine. Sanzoku Diary was an unexpected manga that got me hooked on something I didn’t quite expect I’d be captivated: hunting game and enjoying it for a meal.

Sanzoku Diary is a collection of Okamoto’s adventures in chasing after birds and boars in his hometown of Okayama. He does this every winter and with his trusty air gun and his fellow hunters, they shoot down their next tasty meal. He dedicates every chapter to his next game or his next hunting technique. After some while, Okamoto touches on some issues they encounter as hunters. Sometimes, he even makes an environmental remark.

I honestly didn’t expect that I would be hooked into reading this title. Okamoto’s art is very simple and yet he manages to capture his reader’s attention and engage them in his hunts. Sanzoku Diary turned out to be a fun and interesting read. Or maybe he got me with the eating bit. Or maybe he got me with the feature on game offal.

I have little knowledge on animals and such so I really enjoy Okamoto’s featured game in his chapters. I also love reading Okamoto’s strategies in getting his game, from traps and shots and the taxing wait to get that perfect kill. Lastly, and possibly the one of great interest to me, is Okamoto’s experience in gutting, cleaning, and eating his game. While, I don’t think I’ll ever even hunt game, reading his thoughts on the flavors and textures of game makes me curious to give even the lowly crow a try. As a cook, it also brings back my own joyous memories of cleaning and gutting fish or bird.

What I also find commendable about Sanzoku Diary is how it treats the subject of hunting. Seeing how Okamoto and his group carefully plan their hunt in order to give their game a respectable death, I can’t help but appreciate Sanzoku Diary’s effort in making hunting look like a respectable trade. Or the fact that it’s a sustainable form of lifestyle in the provinces. Not only that, they also raise some environmental issues, such as how animal patterns are changed because of our changing reality. And it achieves this without having to go on a full on lecture. Okamoto’s honesty about the world and his changing environment is refreshing to read in today’s onslaught of unwarranted social lectures.

That said, Sanzoku’s probably best for the meat lovers. Those who take issue with hunting would probably find this book interesting but would definitely have no sympathy for Okamoto. Not that Okamoto’s asking any to begin with. His selfishness appears in his honesty in admitting that hunting is something he enjoys and will always have fond memories of.

It’s a fascinating read and I don’t know if I’m really dead bored but given that I do have a load of manga in my device, Sanzoku Diary proves to be a worthy read during a long layover.

Series Information

Sanzoku Diary by Okamoto Kentaro
Serialized in Evening
Published by Kodansha

Available in: Amazon, Ibooks, and EbookJapan

Yesterday, the Seattle City Council passed a 9-0 vote in support of an ordinance that will allow trash collectors to fine residents $1 every time they note perfectly compostable food waste taking up "10 percent or more" of any haul. This not only means that workers will be taking a very close look at rubbish — they already flag bins that that contain recyclables — but they'll also be keeping tabs on trashiness over time, thanks to state of the art computer systems that are already on board the city's fleet of garbage trucks. This will allow for the city to increase penalties — maxing out at a not-high sum of $50 — for repeat offenders. All those who regularly shun pizza crusts or incur mounds of fruit pulp while undergoing extensive juice cleanses should consider themselves warned. [Seattle Times]

Read more posts by Hugh Merwin

Filed Under: trash talk, laws, seattle

Dish no. 26: Nachos from Taqueria Diana (129 Second Avenue) ...

It's a rare day when pro-choice activists, anti-abortion die-hards, and evangelical Christians all file briefs on the same side of a Supreme Court case. But that's what happened recently when the National Association of Evangelicals, Americans United for Life, Democrats for Life of America, and the National Women's Law Center joined forces to support Peggy Young, a Maryland woman alleging that she was the victim of pregnancy discrimination.

Young was a driver for the shipping giant UPS, where she'd worked for about seven years. In 2006, she took some time off to undergo in vitro fertilization in the hopes of getting pregnant. She succeeded and eventually went back to work, where an occupational health manager told her she had to submit a doctor's note about work restrictions. She provided a midwife recommendation that she not lift more than 20 pounds while pregnant.

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Eater's critic discovers great inexpensive eats in the FiDi served from trucks and carts.

Everyone agrees that, where food trucks are concerned, nothing’s better than having a whole flock of them at one location. Competition not only improves the quality of the food, it prompts these rolling lunch wagons to lower prices and offer specials, too. One of the city’s best collections is found just south of Wall Street at Hanover Square. In the two blocks running east from the 1870 New York Cotton Exchange (now called India House) lurk over a dozen vans and carts, the success of which owes much to both the lack of cheap cafes in the neighborhood, and the abundance of outdoor seating in the immediate vicinity. The selection of vehicles varies by day, but there are always at least a dozen parked between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Here are the best things sampled on several recent visits. Favorites are marked with an asterisk (*).

Luckyim Thai – In Siamese, "luckyim" means dimple, and this cart specializes in dumplings, fried rice, basil stir-fries, spicy red curry, and noodles, ranging in price from $4 to $9. Shown are the exceptional drunkman noodles: chow-fun with shrimp, garlic, onion, basil, and plenty of hot chiles – a dish originating in Chiang Mai said to be good for a hangover.

*Old Traditional Polish Cuisine – In New York, Polish trucks are scarce as hen’s teeth, though Polish food lends itself well to outdoor vending. This truck offers a handful of set meals gauged to feed large appetites and priced at $10. The hilariously named "lite combo" presents four bulging potato-and-cheese pierogi, pickle spears, slice of rye, and a giant length of grilled kielbasa with a delicious smoky flavor. Engagingly, the truck looks like a cabin in the woods.

Frites ‘N’ Meats – This yellow van does few things, but does them well. Center of attention is a half-pound angus burger grilled over gas flame. There are several configurations available, including the bite back ($9.50), featuring jalapenos, pepper jack, and bacon, but budget diners will go with the stripped-down model, which includes raw onions, tomatoes, baby lettuces, and your choice of bun, a comparative Wall Street bargain at $6.50. Belgian-style fries ($3.50) could be a separate meal.

By Robert Sietsema

*Soulaki GR – Sure, the Greek fries dusted with oregano, sea salt, and crumbled feta are grand, but pick instead the bargain ($5) pork pita. In that wonderful sandwich, those same french fries are rolled inside a bouncy flatbread along with smoky pork souvlaki; garlic-flavored yogurt is squirted all over the inside for one of the city’s most pungent taste sensations. This wrap totally rocks!

Langos Truck – What’s a langos? A deep-fried flatbread from Hungary something like a Navajo fry bread, glove-soft and greasy. It’s fried to order, and a limited number of toppings are available, running to chopped ripe bell peppers, cheddar, and sour cream in the "pepper lovers" ($7, shown).

Camion Modern Mexican – You might be a little disappointed to find this truck doesn’t have the "fish dog" advertised on its short menu. As described, it seems like a corn dog made of fish; instead go for the battered-cod tacos, two to an order for $8, served with purple chips and an admirable cilantro-lime mayo. Not bad!

*Schnitzi Schnitzel Bar – At $12, the schnitzel heroes can’t be called cheap, but the humongous length and inclusion of four chicken filets in each almost guarantees you’ll have some left over for a midafternoon snack. The truck is kosher, the array of potential condiments vast (chimichurri sauce recommended), and all schnitzels are fried to order, so your sandwich is handed over piping hot.

Banh Mi Cart – How can three people fit inside this shiny silvery trailer? But they do, turning out 10 Vietnamese sandwiches ranging in price from $6 to $8, plus spring rolls, summer rolls, and iced coffee. The #1 "special baguette" comprising pickled vegetables, pork roll, and cilantro (shown) is the most popular and the cheapest, but a surprise favorite is the version stuffed with canned sardines.

*Desi Express – Of the two vehicular Indian choices, this one’s the best, a deep-red van with a distinct Punjabi bent that offers vegetable and vegetable-meat combos over rice, big feeds as cheap as $7.99. Really, the vegetarian choices are some of the best, as in this pairing of Amritsari chole (Sikh-style chick peas) and baingan bharta (Mughal eggplant stew). There are garnishes galore, including a fresh mint chutney, incendiary bird chiles, yogurt raita, and raw onions.

Tuareg Grill (aka Asian Express) – Don’t bother asking why this cart is called Tuareg Grill, referring to a Sub-Saharan nomadic tribe – while the offerings are confined to pan-Asian stuff. Skip the Japanese selections, in favor of the Chinese stir fries that are the bedrock of the menu. The spicy pork (shown, $8) proved quite voluminous, and every bit as spicy as its Sichuan antecedent – but no Sichuan peppercorns, alas!

Domo Taco – The purview of this greenish van is tacos from a Japanese perspective, in addition to quesadillas, burritos, and bowls. The most interesting shows an additional Middle Eastern bent: Behold the falafel taco, perhaps for the first time in town. The sriracha mayo ramps up the flavor, while the cheese mellows it out, and there’s plenty to chew on in this $3, nearly-a-full-meal wonder.

Mysttik Masaala – Don’t be deterred by the stuttering name or the size of this tiny cart. It turns out some formidable and very spicy chicken curry, which comes on the omnibus platter shown with a choice of vegetable curry, raita, chick peas, and tamarind chutney for $9.

All Posts by Robert Sietsema [ENY]

Client: It’s unacceptable! There is no way this flyer is in high resolution!

Me: I don’t understand, it’s the maximum quality settings I can get.

Client: Don’t bullshit me kid, I zoomed in to 150% and it’s all pixelated!

Japanese fast food is better than ours. I don't know if that's true of the food (some sure think so), but it's definitely better when it comes to unique and unusual promotions. This seems to be especially true for franchises that originate in the US like McDonald's, Burger King, and Pizza Hut. But I think the king of all of them is KFC, a fast food chain that has sunk itself so deep into Japan that it has become a traditional Christmas feast over there. I guess that's the kind of popularity you need to get people excited over such bizarre prizes. 

In honor of the real Colonel Sander's birthday, which would have been September 9, Japanese KFCs are celebrating "Colonel Day" with a number of chicken-themed prizes. Japanese fans simply need to follow KFC on Twitter and use the hashtag “#KFCƒJ[ƒiƒ‹ƒYƒf[” (“KFC Colonel's Day”) by September 24 for a chance to win. Prizes aren't exactly practical, but they sure are great conversation starters. 

Prizes are as follows:

• Fried chicken pillow hat (1 winner)
• Fried chicken iPhone 5s case (1 winner)
• Fried chicken mouse (1 winner)
• Fried chicken keyboard (1 winner)
• Fried chicken USB drive (1 winner)
• Fried chicken earrings (47 winners)

Even the chibi Colonel looks to be completely at a loss over how ridiculous these things look! What do you think, should similar giveaways be made available outside of Japan, or are these types of things a little to Japanese to leave their boarders? Incidentally, I'll always remember KFC as one of the first places to promote Pokemon (excuse me, Pokayman) in the US. 

[via Anime News Network]

Urbance animated project is now on Kickstarter.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2088672139/urbance

pizza-party:

thecomicsvault:

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: A LINK TO THE PAST #4
Nintendo Power #36 (April 1992)
By Shotaro Ishinomori

This looks like the beginning to some weird crime noir Zelda shit. I love it!

Come to think of it, this comic was probably my introduction to Ishinomori’s work. Strong sense memory associated with Link’s wrapped up hand…dunkaroos, maybe. Some kind of processed sweets I used to eat while I read and reread these magazines.

In obvious findings of the day, a new study declares that New Yorkers are obsessed with brunch — and tweeting it. Brunch is the most popular food topic on Twitter in NYC, with common hashtags include #BottomlessMimosas, #eggs, and #Sarabeths. Researchers took into account 83,670 food-related tweets in the city to come to this conclusion. [NYP]
[Yelp]

East Village entrepreneur Bon Yagi might not have introduced okonomiyaki to New York when he started serving the savory Japanese cabbage pancake at his street-food shack, Otafuku, in 2000, but he certainly popularized it. (Earlier sightings do exist: In a 1988 review of Oyshe on the Upper West Side, former New York Times critic Bryan Miller referred to the “light and healthful style of cooking called okonomiyaki, which the restaurant bills as health food for the samurai warrior,” and described the version he sampled as “intriguing for the texture but, on the whole, bland. A good dose of salt and pepper or fresh herbs would make all the difference.”) Miller and even Yagi, who relocated and expanded his shop (now Otafuku x Medetai, 220 E. 9th St., nr. Second Ave.; 646-998-3438) earlier this year, probably wouldn’t recognize today’s riffs on the actually not so healthy dish whose very name invites tinkering. Okonomiyaki, which has been compared to pizza, latkes, and omelettes, translates to “as you like it, grilled,” and in Japan, diners choose what meat or seafood they want incorporated into the flour-and-egg batter. Its defining characteristics include its texture (crisp outside, gooey within), its agreeable greasiness, and its distinctive garnish: squiggles of Kewpie mayo and a sweet ketchup-soy-Worcestershire-type sauce, a sprinkle of nori powder, and a blanket of shaved bonito flakes that flutter from the heat.

Shalom Japan Photo: Liz Clayman/New York Magazine

As the Japanese pubs called izakayas proliferated over the past decade, so did okonomiyaki, a menu staple. But today’s chefs take even more license than the food’s name suggests. At Ivan Ramen (25 Clinton St., nr. Stanton St.; 646-678-3859), Ivan Orkin reinvents the pancake as a scrapple waffle, made from buckwheat, cornmeal, chicken livers, and pork shoulder, topped with charred cabbage and pickled apples. At Shalom Japan (310 S. 4th St., at Rodney St., Williamsburg; 718-388-4012) in Williamsburg, married co-chefs Aaron Israel and Sawako Okochi fuse their Jewish and Japanese heritages by crowning their okonomiyaki with corned lamb tongue and sauerkraut. Hip new izakayas like Azasu (49 Clinton St., nr. Stanton St.; 212-777-7069) and Bar Chuko (565 Vanderbilt Ave., at Pacific St., Prospect Heights; 347-425-9570) serve fairly classic versions, as will Ganso Yaki (515 Atlantic Ave., at Third Ave., Boerum Hill), opening this fall in Boerum Hill, where partners Tadashi Ono and Harris Salat plan to offer not only the cabbage-and-pork-belly style native to Osaka but a Korean-inspired one with oysters, shrimp, and squid, dressed with spicy Korean miso. (Although Osaka’s version is prevalent in New York, Hiroshima is known for one that incorporates noodles and egg; you can find something similar at St. Marks Place stalwart Sushi Lounge [58 St. Marks Pl., nr. First Ave.; 212-598-1188], formerly known as Natori.)

Bar Chuko Photo: Liz Clayman/New York Magazine

This adaptable pancake just might be the ultimate blank canvas for chefs. When Joshua Smookler opens Mu Ramen (1209 Jackson Ave., nr. 48th Ave., Long Island City) next month, he’ll serve a rendition so interpretive he puts it in quotation marks on the menu: His “okonomiyaki” consists of a siphon-charged batter of cornmeal and egg whites flavored with green onions and topped with tobiko, smoked trout, and foie-maple syrup. “Is it a pancake?” he asks. “Yes. Is it as I like it? Yes.” And in the liberating spirit of okonomiyakiness, that is enough.

Mu Ramen Photo: Melissa Hom/New York Magazine

Asazu Photo: Melissa Hom/New York Magazine

Ganso Photo: Liz Clayman/New York Magazine

Sushi Lounge Photo: Melissa Hom/New York Magazine

Otafuku x Medetai Photo: Melissa Hom/New York Magazine

Read more posts by Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite

Filed Under: azasu, bar chuko, ganso yaki, ivan ramen, mu ramen, okonomiyaki, otafuku x medetai, shalom japan, sushi lounge, trendlet; @digital-regular

I didn’t do this on purpose but I wish I could any time some dude is just yelling stuff 

[The Butterfly by Krieger]

· Snowday: The Food Truck Trying to Make a Difference [BK Mag]
· The 18 Best Pizza Places in NYC [Gothamist]
· Why Restaurants Are Trimming Down Menus [~EN~]
· Why Cafe Mogador Is Still an Anchor of the East Village [FitR]
· Gaia Italian Cafe Is Taking a Week Long Break [BB]
· Jesse Schenker on Family Friendly Meals [WSJ]
· Watch a Clip from Parts Unknown's Season 4 Premiere [~EN~]
· PETA Declares NYC 'Most Vegan-Friendly City' in America [FWF]

Microsoft rattled the gaming world this week when it announced it would spend $2.5 billion to acquire Minecraft, a wildly popular indie videogame. By buying the game, Microsoft hopes to tap into players' wallets. But what's less clear is whether Microsoft can win over gamers, some of whom are criticizing Microsoft for trying to buy its way to cool—and stifling creativity in the process.

Minecraft's premise is simple: Players are dropped into a world with LEGO-style blocks, and can then choose their own adventures—exploring, building new structures, or fighting monsters. The game has legions of devoted followers—including hardcore gamers, elementary school kids, and United Nations staffers who have asked citizens in developing countries to use the program to design better public spaces. Some gamers are earning a living off of Minecraft by uploading game videos to YouTube and taking a chunk of the ad revenue, and they're not shying away from slamming the deal.

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A confidential Lego catalog for 2015 has been leaked, revealing 121 images of new sets. Users have posted a full mirror of the 121-image haul here, including some really cool models like this Flatiron Building in the Architecture line:

Read more...

Ask Amy, 13 September 2014:

Dear Amy: When we were dating, my wife was the sweetest woman in the world. She didn’t make a move without asking me. We had a few kids. She stayed home and raised them while I worked. The kids grew up and went off on their own. The wife got a part-time job to keep herself busy. Then she got promoted. Now she works full time, goes to business lunches and dinners, meetings and training sessions. She comes home, cooks and cleans. She doesn’t ask me what I’d like for dinner but makes whatever she feels like. Our plan was for me to retire when I turned 62 (she’s 57), buy an RV and travel the country. Well, we bought the RV, but she can only go on weekend trips. Vacations are saved for when the kids come home. She traded in the car I bought her to tote the kids around for a sports car that I can barely fit in. Now she’s talking about getting a smaller house because she doesn’t have time to clean “a big empty house.” I keep telling her we will have grandkids one day and she will be glad we have all the space. She’s changed so much in 37 years that I don’t even recognize her, and I’m afraid one day I will wake up to a “for sale” sign in my front yard. How do I convince her she is just going through “the change” and in a few years she will be back to normal again? — Mystified Mike

Dear Mystified Mike,

Boy howdy, the ole’ ball and chain sure has pulled a fast one on you! Time was nice ladies like ole’ wifey knew their place. (Slightly behind you but never out of sight, holding a dishrag.)

But here you are today, seeing your wife bring in an income and cook and clean your home while you pine away for an RV you can’t use unless she’s in it—I mean, it’s not like it’s going to clean itself during a trip to Flagstaff, is it?

When you married your wife, she had a lifetime obligation to stay the same person she was on your wedding day. That’s what long-term partnership is about: wives graciously taking orders from their husbands for their entire lives, until they drop dead on the ironing board. You understand this, but your wife clearly doesn’t—and for that, you can definitely blame menopause, the only possible cause of your wife’s desire to be an independent human being with her own interests.

Nothing besides a totally natural hormonal change could possibly have compelled her to seek out new occupations and hobbies after the make-up of her life shifted away from the daily tasks involved in raising your children for you—certainly not the prospect of living under the thumb of a man who takes offense to the purchase of a sports car for the rest of her god-forsaken days.

What, are you supposed to cook dinner? Mop a floor? Have an open and honest discussion with your wife about household purchases and meal planning? No man should ever deign to engage in such offensive activities with his helpmeet. Nevertheless, you may have to gently suggest to her that she’s getting a little uppity these days, and has she talked to her doctor about her bizarre and offensive interest in acting like an autonomous human?

After all, your dinner is at stake.

It might seem early to be thinking about the holidays, but in order to get this ever-growing project off the ground we have to get started! Every year we have people say they never heard about the game so we are extending the window a bit on how long you can sign up. Once again, it is time to call for participants for the 6th Annual Anime Secret Santa Project!

The idea of this project is for everyone who participates to be reviewing a show that they might not normally watch or might have overlooked. Everyone will get someone else in the project to review a series of their choice and in return review something picked by one of their fellow bloggers. The goal is threefold for everyone involved:

• Mixing up what you watch and review on your blog.
• Getting other people to watch things you feel deserve more attention.
• A way to interact with other bloggers thus creating possibilities for cross blog readership, also it fosters an environment to try other cross blog experiments.

Here is how this little experiment will work: If you want to participate send us your Name, Blog Address, and My Anime List Link (or some other equivalent listing) via e-mail (secretsanta.rt [at] gmail [dot] com) with subject: Secret Santa Participant. Due by Sunday, October 5th. Make sure that your MAL (or whatever!) is updated as much as possible before you submit it. Also, if you will not watch fan-subs mention that in the e-mail, too.

We will then make a circular list of everyone involved in the project that only we will know the order of. The order of the list will be made completely at random. Everyone will then receive the name, blog, and list of the person they are the Secret Santa for. You will then suggest three shows for the person all of which must be 26 episodes or less (yes, you can suggest movies, too). The shows must be subtitled in some fashion. Remember that you are picking shows that you hope the other person will like and give an honest chance. Look over their list and whether they watch fan-subs then try to pick out something good but unexpected.

Once we get everyone’s picks we will then pass on the shows to the recipients. No one except us will know the names of the person who gave you your choices. You then pick the show you are going to watch. Everyone is responsible for getting their own material for the review. You will receive your show choices by the end of October.

You then have until late December to watch the show you were assigned and write a review. On the week of Christmas everyone will post their reviews for the Secret Santa Project. We would prefer you to post your review on Christmas Eve but you can alter it as to the schedule of your blog. On Christmas Day, we will reveal the name of who had who as a Secret Santa along with a small post about the project.

Again: If you want to participate send us your Name, Blog, and My Anime List (or some other equivalent listing) page via e-mail (secretsanta.rt [at] gmail [dot] com) with subject: Secret Santa Participant. Due by Sunday, October 5th.

Just in case someone does not know what traditional Secret Santa is.

Why we don’t do manga secret santa.

It might have been difficult to sum up the "incredible amounts of entitlement, condescension, and drunk nonsense" inflicted on Lucky Strike bartender Laura Ramadei throughout her five years on the job, but after a customer groped her before saying he would just take her "to go" this past weekend, Ramadei decided to give it a try in a lengthy Facebook post that's now been shared some 4,000 times. It probably should be shared at least 100,000 more.

"Dear Brian," she begins, after locating alleged perpetrator Brian Lederman through a basic internet search. "When I asked you and your companion if you'd be eating, or needing anything else from me, you put your hand — ever so gently — ON MY ASS and asked if you could take me 'to go.'"

Lederman apparently left soon after Ramadei explained the overture wasn't at all acceptible. In her account, she credits the bar's healthy working environment and "incredibly supportive coworkers and manager," but writes, reluctantly, that "misogyny is alive and well" otherwise, and for her the good parts of the job have long been overshadowed by a series of horrible low points in which she was subject to abuse. That includes verbal abuse, physical "affronts," and sexual harassment, she writes.

For his part, Lederman, the financial worker at the center of the incident who reportedly drinks his Stoli with rocks and apparently knows everybody in Manhattan and says he'll make sure Ramadei never works again in this town, takes a moment to assure the Post what really happened couldn't be more different from her account. "I clearly remember making a joke when the girl said, 'What would you like?' I kiddingly said, 'I would like you to go with nothing on it.'" The crucial difference here, apparently, is what he said happened next. Lederman says he's "grabbed plenty of girls' asses in my life," but he "never grabbed hers." As if it might bolster his case, he goes on. "That f-king c-t, for her to do something like that is pretty ridiculous," he tells the paper.

Ramadei's account is a side of the business few ever hear about. Because of this incident and more like it, she writes, she's decided it was time for a career change. "Without your inspiration I wouldn't be quitting my job today, and endeavoring a better chapter of my life," she writes.

[Laura Ramadei/Facebook, NYP]

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Filed Under: awful things, brian lederman, laura ramadei, lucky strike, sexual harassment

Krispy Kreme's Ghostbusters tribute doughnuts are available from September 29 through October 31. There are neither Stay-Puft Marshmallow flavors, nor are they filled with anything resembling ectoplasm, so these really just feel more like a missed opportunity. We do get the slightest hint of Slimer on one doughnut, and the cheery visage of the Stay-Puft graces another, so at least that's pretty great.

NYC's only Krispy Kreme is in Penn Station. Photo: Ghostbusters/Twitter

Maybe these will help lead the movement to bring Ecto Cooler back to store shelves everywhere.

[THR]

Read more posts by Clint Rainey

Filed Under: tie-ins, doughnuts, ghostbusters, krispy kreme