Only in Manhattan can you see 10 protesters with “Free Palestine” signs right next to 10 people with “Michael Jackson is Innocent” posters.

Here’s the music I listened to the most in 2003 (not necessarily published in 2003): Elliott Smith: everything he’s published; once again, he’s my top singer/songwriter of the year…Will there ever come a day when he doesn’t make the top of my list? Doubtful. He’s been #1 since 1998. Beck: Sea Change The Shins: Oh, [...]

Lenny Bruce was pardoned by New York’s Governor Pataki yesterday…37 years after Bruce’s death. Gawker got a picture on the NY Times home page yesterday with a link to the article, “Master of the Self-Referential Realm of Blogs”. Mad cow disease found in Washington State cow…another reason why I’m happy to be a vegetarian.

Favorite Books Read in 2003 (Fiction category): The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon Atonement by Ian McEwan The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs The Human Stain by Philip Roth

Back in October, the FBI named New York City the safest big city in the United States.

Some woman was up on our floor last night banging on all the doors. This was when I could hardly move, so when she banged on my door, I stayed in bed. She said she was looking for a white guy named Jon. I have no idea what she wanted or how she got into [...]

Christian and I celebrated our 8th anniversary yesterday by going out for vegetarian dim sum. We had planned to walk around the city and then go out for dinner, but the rain sent us home. Maybe tonight we will go out for dinner to make up for it. Our anniversary is also presents day! I [...]

Monday night I went to “A Believer Nighttime Event” for The Believer magazine. This mag has been around for about a year and is published by McSweeney’s. As most of you know, I’m a sucker for anything dealing with McSweeney’s. Before I took my seat, I went over to the sales table and picked up [...]

Bill Clinton has published a list of his favorite books. Other than putting his wife’s book on the list (ass kisser), there’s a lot of interesting picks here. I’ve only read a few of them…I better get reading! I think I’ll start with William Styron’s “The Confessions of Nat Turner” because I like Styron’s style; [...]

Friday night I went to Big Bar with Christian and Jon. Because of the snow it was a slow night, so the bartender spent much of his time chatting with us. I realized I had never tried Johnny Walker Red, which is mentioned in Elliott Smith’s Miss Misery lyrics. So Jon ordered me a shot [...]