Victorino Matus

Virtue signaling with quinoa and kale.

Victorino Matus: From toast to fancy guac, the green fruit’s moment is ripe at last.

Victorino Matus chows down.

There's a song I’ve started to play on the piano. It’s called “Money,” a fairly straightforward arrangement by Burt Bacharach. The only problem is Liza Minnelli’s eyes. They keep staring back at me from the opposite page.

On March 20, 1974, a new French restaurant opened on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. It was called Le Cirque (The Circus), and it soon became the hottest ticket in town. It was partly known for its lavish meals—where Daniel Boulud and David Bouley, among others, earned their fame as chefs. But Le…

Last week, Amazon acquired Whole Foods Market in a merger valued at $13.7 billion. And while consumers are already seeing lower prices at the organic chain (often referred to as Whole Paycheck), there’s much concern over the deal’s impact on jobs. As a Bloomberg headline put it, “Amazon Robots…

I HAVE OFTEN PRAYED that one day an authentic Jersey diner would spring up in Washington, D.C. It’s the only thing missing in a city full of trendy bars and expensive restaurants. When all the clubs close down at 2 A.M. (quite embarrassing when friends from New York visit), there’s nowhere to go.…

In a rush to beat out the latest iPhone, Samsung rolled out its Galaxy Note7 with one minor flaw: The battery. I'd hate to be the engineer who had to explain that one to company vice chairman and heir apparent Lee Jae-yong: "You see, sir, well, it's the battery. No big deal. It just, on occasion,…

"Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame bun." If you were around when this commercial came out in 1984, that description of the McDonald's Big Mac just rolls off the tongue. My wife hasn't had a Big Mac sandwich in years yet she still remembers the jingle…

Here's an interesting stat brought to you by Ana Swanson of the Washington Post: "A survey of 33 Japanese restaurants in the Washington area revealed that 12 were owned by Chinese Americans and 12 by Korean Americans. Only six were Japanese owned." And it's not just in the Washington area, mind…

Yet another controversy has engulfed Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, who, at a Friday press conference, compared his efforts to rid his country of drugs to Adolf Hitler's efforts to rid Europe of Jews. Now, you might be thinking, surely the media took his comments out of context. So let's see…

Towards the end of a recent lunch, I found myself ogling a friend's bowl of chicken pista korma. He was done, but there were still a few tender chunks of chicken left. It required enormous restraint on my part not to ask him, "Are you going to finish that?" And considering we were in a restaurant…

Much like Apollo 13, Sully is about a near-miss and contains an ending about which we're all aware. (Unless, of course, you've been living in your doomsday bunker. If so, allow me to pass on the message: The chair is against the wall. The chair is against the wall. John has a long mustache. John…

Towards the end of a recent lunch, I found myself ogling a friend’s bowl of chicken pista korma. He was done, but there were still a few tender chunks of chicken left. It required enormous restraint on my part not to ask him, "Are you going to finish that?" And considering we were in a restaurant…

According to the Wall Street Journal, men's loafers are making a comeback. "Bergdorf Goodman's men's store, called Goodman's, is making a big push with loafers this year," writes the Journal's Ray A. Smith. "A factor behind the loafer proliferation is the move to more smart-casual dress codes at…

By now it's well known that almost no one was interested in publishing J.K. Rowling's first Harry Potter book. The author has saved those rejection letters, stashed away in her attic. Later, when Rowling was looking for a U.S. publisher, the only taker was Scholastic Press. Numerous publishers…

Vincent Hanna was strung out on coke. If that means anything to you, read on. (And if it doesn't, read on, anyway. I need the clicks.) This was just one of many revelations during a panel discussion following a Wednesday night screening of Heat, a remastered 20th anniversary edition of Michael…

In the summer of 2007, I was working on a story for THE WEEKLY STANDARD about the cult of celebrity chefs. As part of my reporting, I spent time with Michel Richard, who then ran two restaurants, the acclaimed Citronelle and the brasserie Central Michel Richard. It was inside the gastronomic temple…

So which is it? Hillary Clinton, on the stump, telling voters she cares about the little guy, or Hillary Clinton at an intimate gathering that charges $50,000 per plate? As a subhed in Wednesday's Washington Post put it, "High-dollar fundraisers contrast with promise to help middle class."

It's been two years since Christopher Nolan had a film out—Interstellar—and four years since The Dark Knight Rises. He's currently working on Dunkirk, slated for 2017. It's been all hush-hush until a segment of a trailer leaked last week. This led to Warner Bros. releasing an "announcement"…

It's truly unfortunate what happened to Donald Trump Tuesday. To have one's words all twisted and misconstrued—it's rather unfair. First, here's what the Republican nominee said: "Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment. By the way, and if she gets to pick … and if she…

Last summer, workers removing chalkboards from a high school in Oklahoma City discovered another set of boards hiding underneath. They had last seen the light of day in 1917. The boards were still chalk-marked with drawings, a calendar, and mathematics. But perhaps most striking were the…

Kudos to Variety for interviewing members of the cast and crew of Stand By Me, which came out in the summer of 1986. As I've insisted here before, if you grew up in the 1980s, '86 was a hell of a year for pictures: Top Gun, Platoon, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Aliens, About Last Night, and Back to…

Five years after the collapse of MF Global, a settlement will soon be reached between Jon Corzine, the former CEO of the now-bankrupt brokerage firm, and customers who claim their funds were wrongfully used to offset the shortfall, making those accounts unavailable to them. Although Corzine and his…

Each summer, my wife and children head up to Connecticut to spend a week with my in-laws. Believe me, I’d love to join them for a fun-filled week of swimming, cookouts, and cocktails—or as Jack Nicholson put it in As Good As It Gets, "good times, noodle salad." Alas, I am stuck in our nation's…

First came the studies saying red meat was good for you. Then came news that butter should be embraced over margarine. It's okay to eat eggs again. Now comes word that, based on a recent study, pasta is not the carb-laden villain we once knew. To the contrary, it can be an essential part of your…

Last month, when voters in the U.K. decided to exit the European Union, the pound plummeted and market chaos ensued. The media speculated as to which companies might pull out of the country. And everyone wondered how the referendum would impact the flow of immigration. But there's an even graver…

Despite being one of the most celebrated chefs in the world—and hanging out with Anthony Bourdain—Eric Ripert still has a recurring nightmare. It involves his former boss, the legendary Joël Robuchon. When I interviewed Ripert last month for the Washington Free Beacon, we chatted at length about…

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal highlighted a study showing that people who tell good stories "are happier in life and in love." Yes, research was conducted to determine this. Specifically, "New research, published this month in the journal Personal Relationships, shows that women find…

This past weekend, Wall Street Journal books editor and WEEKLY STANDARD contributing editor Robert Messenger reviewed MacArthur at War in the pages of WSJ. This latest history by Walter R. Borneman focuses strictly on the Pacific theater during the Second World War and reappraises the actions of…

A few weeks ago I agreed to take on my most perilous assignment yet: review Outback Steakhouse's Loaded Bloomin' Onion for the Washington Free Beacon. With little help from my family, I hardly made a dent. I did receive loads of feedback, though I never really got around to reviewing the appetizer…

In the end, Norbert Hofer came up 31,026 votes short of Making Austria Great Again. The Freedom Party of Austria’s presidential candidate lost to Alexander Van der Bellen, a Green party economist, by a margin narrower than the Brenner Pass. Just last night Hofer was leading by 144,006 votes, but…

When Ted Cruz is standing on the debate stage, does he ever reflect on the words of Michael Corleone? "Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgment." After all, the Texas senator and presidential contender did recently admit The Godfather Part III is one of his favorite movies.

"Hickory dickory dock." If the next line that comes to your head is something obscene, you have Andrew Dice Clay to blame. The 58-year-old comedian, known for his raunchy rhymes and wildly offensive stand-up material, is the subject of a recent Washington Post profile. Clay is in the midst of a…

When James Moore was 14 years old, he began playing Sid Meier's Civilization II, a game in which competing empires vie for global domination. And he kept playing one particular scenario just to see how long he could last. Moore started in 2002. Fourteen years later, his world lives on—but it's not…

In a recent Washington Post advice column, a mother complains about her almost 6-year-old son's penchant for bad language. We're not just talking about negative words like "stupid," but also the f-bomb. He has been hurling insults at his younger brother, telling him to "shut up." The 3-year-old…

Not that it ever left—but it sure seemed that way, what with Burger King having introduced more than 50 different menu items in a single year (remember Satisfries?). But it finally dawned on Restaurant Brands International Inc. that its fast-food burger chain was better off selling classic…

It was all about the pants. Explosive colors, as if his legs were on fire. And patterns that looked like they were sewn together by a blind seamstress. That was the Bud Collins I remember—the longtime tennis broadcaster who died on Friday at the age of 86.

Whenever I’m driving with my wife, I have this nasty habit of smacking her in the face. No, it's not because of the innumerable times she says, "It's green. You can go now." Or "Slow down, there's a stop sign." It's not even when she thinks I don't see the car in front of me braking and yells, "Oh,…

In 2008, I was invited to judge a wine-and-oyster pairing competition at the Old Ebbitt Grill. It was a great deal: Rank 20 glasses of whites in order of your liking alongside all the Olympia oysters you can eat. Food writers and oenophiles I expected to see there. But Supreme Court Justice Antonin…

In the latest installment of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, host Jerry Seinfeld interviews Will Ferrell, who we find sitting on a playground swing. His first words to Seinfeld: "Hey little boy, you like candy?"

As mentioned previously, Brown-Forman is selling Southern Comfort to the Sazerac Company for $543.5 million. This ought to free up the Louisville, Kentucky-based liquor giant to focus on its flagship brands, namely, Woodford Reserve and Jack Daniel's. Indeed, last October Brown-Forman unveiled the…

In drinking news (the most important news, let's face it), Brown-Forman is selling that American classic, Southern Comfort, to the Sazerac Company for $543.5 million (and throwing in Tuaca, an Italian liqueur, as part of the deal). For despite the increase in U.S. consumption of whiskey and…

The snow is snowing. The wind is blowing. But I can weather the storm. What do I care how much it may storm? I've got my drink to keep me warm. That's right—Snowpocalypse 2016 is officially upon us (at least for those of us in the mid-Atlantic), so what better time to offer these drink recipes that…

I would've guessed with all the bad press surrounding Chipotle Mexican Grill, there would be no lines during the lunch hour. But that guess would be wrong. On a recent visit to my nearest Chipotle (on M Street), the line was practically out the door at 12:30 p.m. As it turns out, there are fans of…

If a normal person is asked whether he or she has read a certain book, the response can be a simple "yes" or "no." For a journalist (i.e., not a normal person), there's a wonderfully cynical rejoinder: "Read it? I haven't even reviewed it!" Also: "Well, I've read in it." I was reminded of this upon…

Just when you thought there couldn’t possibly be any more breweries for AB InBev to acquire, the beer giant is now going after rival SABMiller. So the company that already owns Budweiser, Bud Light, Stella Artois, and Corona is now gunning for Miller, Coors, Peroni, and Blue Moon, to name a few.…

I find the Review section of the Wall Street Journal to be must-reading. But I’m inevitably backed up because, well, who has the time? (The feeling is apparently not exclusive, considering the latest tagline for the paper is "People who don't have time make time to read the Wall Street Journal."…

As the Wall Street Journal recently reported, Diageo brand Smirnoff is trying to reverse declining sales of its leading vodka by focusing on … music?

The Boston Globe reports:

The recent E. coli outbreak that shut down 43 locations of the Chipotle chain in Washington state and Oregon reminds us of the downsides of organic. For in the push to rid our food of, among other things, preservatives, we tend to forget that the whole point of these additives was to, well,…

In January 2006, the actor and former senator Fred Thompson visited the offices of THE WEEKLY STANDARD to discuss the state of the Supreme Court, which was in the midst of filling a vacancy—Thompson had been providing advice to then-nominee Samuel Alito. It was an in-depth conversation about the…

Think of Mount Vernon these days and the first images that come to mind are those class trips—kids feeding goats, running through a straw-bale maze, and going on wagon rides. The last thing you'd associate with the home of George Washington is whiskey (indeed, our first president preferred Madeira…

Remember all the commotion surrounding the first commercials for Viagra? It wasn't just the content per se that had people talking—it was also the voiceover that casually warned you to "call your doctor right away if you experience a sudden decrease in vision or an erection lasting longer than four…

During my research for Vodka: How a Colorless, Odorless, Flavorless Spirit Conquered America, I met with the execs at Jim Beam who, besides selling fine bourbon, also sell Pinnacle Vodka, a brand known for its vast array of flavors: Cherry Whipped, Cookie Dough, Pumpkin Pie, Strawberry Shortcake,…

One of the perks of covering the alcohol beat is the occasional complimentary sample that arrives by mail. It’s usually a medium-sized package containing, at most, a 750-ml. bottle. Often it’s smaller: A sample of the delicious Chopin wheat spirit Single was 375 ml. in size, Woody Creek vodka from…

One of the perks of covering the alcohol beat is the occasional complimentary sample that arrives by mail. It’s usually a medium-sized package containing, at most, a 750-ml. bottle. Often it’s smaller: A sample of the delicious Chopin wheat spirit Single was 375 ml. in size, Woody Creek vodka from…

Last weekend’s Defending the American Dream Summit in Columbus played host to five presidential candidates: Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Bobby Jindal, Rick Perry, and Marco Rubio. This part isn’t a surprise—the two-day event was organized by Americans for Prosperity, the Koch-funded political advocacy group…

Based on her latest column, Maureen Dowd is not a fan of Hillary Clinton's campaign run. But how do the Times's readers feel? It's a guilty pleasure of mine (or a bad habit) to read comment sections in order to gauge the mood out there. At the New York Times, however, comments are broken into three…

Have you ever had two dinners in one night? I did, more than 20 years ago, in Budapest. My buddy Todd and I had gone backpacking through Europe, hitting 11 cities in 30 days. As students, we were careful not to overspend, staying at pensions and hostels and crashing at my former host family’s house…

If you were to ask a group of grade schoolers their opinions on grown-ups, what would they say? In our age of participation awards and "good job," would the descriptives be more positive than negative? In a 1931 issue of Harper's Magazine, a schoolteacher asked her students, ages 7 to 11, that very…

It’s been said that the terminally ill can hear music just before slipping away. I’ve always imagined these souls listening to angels strumming their harps. I never thought it might be “Hey Jealousy” by the Gin Blossoms. But that’s what I heard as I lay in my hospital bed last month while battling…

On the Today show, former Spokane NAACP head Rachel Dolezal explained how despite having two white parents, she identifies herself as an African American. She also mentioned her child's observation: "Mom, racially you’re human. Culturally, you’re black.” And according to her colleagues and fellow…

Xiaoping Ren means well. The doctor from Harbin Medical University in China has extensive experience in the realms of hand and face transplants. And he hopes his current research will lead to transplants that, according to the Wall Street Journal, "might one day be able to help human patients who…

Brassica oleracea acephala: "A hardy cabbage with curled often finely incised leaves that do not form a dense head," according to Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. It was, writes Alan Davidson in The Oxford Companion to Food, "the ordinary greenstuff of country people in most parts of Europe…

The first thing you see upon entering the new National Archives exhibit "Spirited Republic: Alcohol in American History" is a column containing 26 gallon-jugs filled with pure alcohol, each with varying amounts and representing our annual consumption over the centuries. And while it might sound…

Now that it’s been reported the Comcast-TimeWarner merger talks have collapsed, there will be much ad time to be filled on television and radio (as well as print). At least if you live in the D.C. area, radio commercials are often about impending legislation and a voiceover urging listeners to…

A friend sends along an email attachment—a handwritten letter by his 8-year-old son, Peter. It’s addressed to First Lady Michelle Obama. “It all started because he saw something about school lunches [and] how ketchup is bad for you, and that Michelle Obama wants to limit the amount of ketchup” in…

According to my mechanic, that burning smell emanating from my car’s vents was caused by an oil leak near the camshaft synchronizing sensor underneath the right side of the engine. Unfortunately I had no idea what he was talking about. He lost me at camshaft.

The annual Distilled Spirits Council industry review has just been released: As it turns out, Americans like to drink. No, seriously, we really like to drink. Last year, U.S. distillers cranked out 210 million cases of liquor, up 2.2 percent from 2013. Supplier revenue is up to $23.1 billion. An…

Over the weekend, the Washington Post Magazine published a survey detailing the most popular spirits in ten U.S. cities. The study, conducted by Nielsen Scarborough USA, spans a 30-day period and tracks millions of adults. The findings are intriguing.Boston, for example, leads when it comes to gin…

It figures. In the June 2 issue of THE WEEKLY STANDARD, I devoted a Casual to my inability to keep pace with technology. Try as I might, at some point in time, it gets to be a bit much (I refuse to pay anything by smartphone). But much of the column was spent poking fun at my parents for being so…

With growing amusement (and only mild alarm), my wife and I have been noticing how our parents’ quirks have gotten, well, quirkier. My mother and father, for instance, steadfastly refuse to text-message. “I don’t want to get charged,” my mother says. And besides, “Why do you need to text when you…

Every so often you'll find a headline about robots that will soon resemble (replace?) humans—the technology is only 20 years away. And these robots will be able to act like us and think like us, but they'll obviously be much smarter, making calculations at the speed of light. Sort of like that…

In the weekend's Washington Post, Georgetown professor Angela Stent discussed the sudden demand for Russia experts—in particular those Sovietologists and Kremlinologists who in the 1990s had been consigned to the dustbin of history (or, if they had tenure, the dustbin of history departments). But…

Yet another damning revelation about the Clintons: Daughter Chelsea preferred imitation maple syrup over the real thing. In Dining at the White House, former presidential chef John Moeller recalls his urging another cook to give the first daughter what she wants, even if it seems just plain wrong.

The big news from this morning's annual briefing by the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS) was that for the first time ever, sales of bourbon and Tennessee whiskey exports generated over $1 billion. Admiral Peter Cressy, president of DISCUS, referred to a "whiskey renaissance"…

Dorothy Kosinski is looking forward to the release of The Monuments Men, and not just because it stars George Clooney. The director of the Phillips Collection sees the movie as a way of spreading awareness that culture matters—and is even worth fighting for. The film is based on Robert Edsel's…

The one robbery where there should have been enough for everyone. Six million dollars in cash and jewels. And yet, within days of the robbery the dream score turned into a nightmare. What should have been the crew's happiest moment turned out to be the beginning of the end. —Nicholas Pileggi on the…

Now that the Grand Coalition has returned to power, will there be a thaw in German-Russian relations? The Social Democrats (SPD) have retaken the foreign ministry. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the foreign minister, gets along well with the Russians—he was once chief of staff to Gerhard Schröder, a…

Today would not be a good day to hang out with Michel Richard. I've been around the award-winning French chef when something's not right—the vegetables in the soup aren't fully cooked, bread is being wasted, a waiter's shirt is verging on the untucked—it's not pleasant. Normally Richard is a jovial…

The battle over government's role in society has been raging for some time—culminating in today's clash over Obamacare. But for how long? In The New Deal & Modern Conservatism: A Defining Rivalry, Professor David Davenport, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, and Gordon Lloyd, a professor…

Over at Politico, Josh King reflects on the disastrous Michael Dukakis presidential campaign—specifically the moment the Massachusetts governor donned a helmet and rode around in an M1A1 Abrams, trying to resemble a muscular commander in chief. Except he didn't.

The Good Book tells us “God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work He had done in creation.” What biblical scholars cannot tell us, however, is precisely how God spent his Sunday. Did He go for a run? Read the paper while sipping on a venti macchiato at…

Last Saturday marked the 24th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. At the International Spy Museum in downtown D.C., the day was commemorated by a parade of colorful Trabants, those wonderful symbols of East German innovation and efficiency—central planning at its best.

By now we know that winning the war on terror requires a commitment to peace and stability in far-flung places—a component that goes hand-in-hand with military might. Of course this is easier said than done. Certainly there are a slew of organizations focused on relief efforts, but how many of…

The day had finally arrived—our children were embarking on their first flight. My wife and I figured that since we wouldn't have to be changing diapers in cramped quarters (our kids are five and three), the time was right. But I also presumed that since we had toddlers with us, the airline would…

Aiming to be the next Chad Ochocinco, 49ers safety Donte Whitner announced he was legally changing his last name to Hitner. But according to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the paperwork cannot be completed because of the government shutdown. In fact, it may take a few weeks before the name change and thus a…

Lost in the shuffle of last week's German elections was the plight of the Green party. It was understandable, of course. Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats dominated. The Free Democrats fell out of the Bundestag. And the CDU is meeting with Green party officials to discuss a potential partnership…

Berlin

Berlin

Frankfurt "For the first time in this election I'm feeling nervous," one FDP member just confessed. And he should be. ZDF's final poll (Politbarometer) was released, and the race could not be tighter. At the moment, Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union is holding steady at 40 percent. Its…

Frankfurt

Wiesbaden, Germany

Beginning tomorrow and through Sunday I will be reporting on the German elections, aka Bundestagswahl 2013, from Frankfurt, Mainz, Wiesbaden, and Berlin, as part of a study group sponsored by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation. The foundation is the nonprofit arm of the Free Democrat Party, the…

To counter the persecution of gays in Russia, some in the West have been calling for a boycott of Russian vodka—the idea being that if things don't improve, we ought to hit 'em where it hurts. After all, Russians drink and make a lot of vodka and there was a time (in the mid-19th century) when…

Michelle Obama is on the cover of this week's Parade magazine. The profile by Maggie Murphy and Lynn Sherr was hard-hitting: "Posing in the formal Green Room, she appears both relaxed and invigorated, embracing the undefined (and undefinable) roles of Spouse in Chief, Role Model in Chief, and Mom…

It is said that when jazz legend Charlie "Bird" Parker died, the coroner guessed he was in his 50s. Parker was, in fact, 34 years old. Likewise, many of us might have been surprised to learn that actor James Gandolfini, who died suddenly on Wednesday night, was a mere 51. This means that when The…

The military historian Victor Davis Hanson was in Washington, D.C., to promote his latest book, The Savior Generals: How Five Great Commanders Saved Wars That Were Lost—From Ancient Greece to Iraq. Considering what is transpiring overseas, the timing couldn't be better. (It also makes for great…

Normally I blog about each week's Mad Men episode here. I avoid Slate and Esquire and everywhere else that offers analysis and simply try to reflect on the more interesting aspects of the show. Then I'll go over to the other sites and realize I know nothing. I am reminded of Gene Hackman's Lex…

I once suggested the Garden State be renamed the Diner State—New Jersey has more of them supposedly per capita than any other state in the union. They all seem to be open 24 hours and offer the kinds of food I love, especially around 2 a.m., such as a Western omelet, corned beef hash and eggs, and…

"Embrace the slime!" That was how my "oyster mentor" taught me to appreciate those fine bivalves. "Swish it around, taste the brine." Prior to our dinner at the Oceanaire Seafood Room, I tended to gulp down oysters doused in shrimp cocktail sauce, which was not the ideal way to eat something that…

Last night at the Kennedy Center concert hall, Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese delivered the 2013 National Endowment for the Humanities Jefferson Lecture. He spoke of the importance of preserving film and lamented the studios' fixation with box office grosses. The end of celluloid saddened…

Perhaps by the end of the day Michael Wolff will tell us it was all a joke, like Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal." And that he couldn't have possibly been serious when he wrote in British GQ, "You likely wouldn't have sex with someone who took you to the wrong restaurant (or at least wouldn't…

(SPOILER ALERT) The season finale of Top Chef didn't involve iditarods, tonging for oysters, or a roller derby. Instead, finalists Brooke Williamson and Kristen Kish, with the help of eliminated competitors, cranked out their own menus for the judges and a select group of guests—including the…

The first part of the Top Chef season finale involved the finalists creating a three-course menu and serving it up at head judge Tom Colicchio's flagship Craft in Los Angeles. This in itself was daunting. The contestants were awed by the sparkling kitchen and array of fresh ingredients at their…

And then there were three. (SPOILER ALERT) But at the moment we only know two of this season's Top Chef finalists, Brooke Williamson and Sheldon Simeon. The third is the winner of Last Chance Kitchen, which will either be Kristen Kish or Lizzie Binder. But it won't be Oklahoma chef Josh Valentine,…

In this morning's Washington Post, columnist and former New Republic editor Charles Lane writes that the Obama administration has not only fallen short in its quest for electric car domination—the quest has actually ended in decisive failure.

As I mentioned elsewhere, it was rather fitting that during the week I was away on THE WEEKLY STANDARD cruise, the Top Chef episode I missed happened to take place on a cruise ship. The kitchen quarters are cramped and the contestants had to figure out how to use the various serving vessels and…

From this morning's Washington Post:

"Keep it f—g simple," is how Wolfgang Puck put it. Last night's elimination challenge on Top Chef was conceptually easy: make good fried chicken. And yet Brooke Williamson removed the bones (and thus the flavor) from her chicken breasts while Stefan Richter did a cordon bleu because, as he told the…

(SPOILER ALERT) "Bite my tongue, bite my tongue," was all Kristen Kish could whisper to herself at judges' table. She could have explained how her teammate Josie Smith-Malave promised to make the sauce in time but procrastinated. Instead, Kristen took full responsibility as executive chef on last…

Here's a common Top Chef dilemma: When a contestant conceptualizes a plan of action and, with the clock ticking, suddenly discovers a key component is missing, say, a level pot for risotto or a vital ingredient, does he tear up the plan or just keep going? This week, Micah Fields was hoping to…

If the name "Jimmy Sears" rings a bell, somewhere along the way you must've read Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain's bestselling "Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly." The book dispels any lofty notions a reader might have about the cooking life. It's blunt and graphic, but it is also…

From yesterday's Washington Post:

Two episodes ago at judges' table, Danyele McPherson confessed that this reality-based cooking competition isn't for everyone. Her admission could've cost her (instead it was Eliza Gavin who got sent packing). But in the following episode, Danyele did get sent home for a less than flavorful chicken…

With the fiscal cliff looming, readers and lawmakers (and the readers who happen to be lawmakers) can get a better grip on the crisis by checking out Government Policies and the Delayed Economic Recovery, edited by Lee Ohanian, John Taylor, and Ian Wright (Hoover Institution Press). At a recent…

Here's how Top Chef head judge Tom Colicchio described the side of carrots prepared by contestant Eliza Gavin: "They were a mystery to me. I just don’t know how a person could possibly try to make them the way she did," he wrote on his blog. "They were dry, cooked through yet somehow still hard, as…

As Al Capone explained in The Untouchables, "A man stands alone at the plate. This is the time for what? For individual achievement. There he stands alone. But in the field, what? Part of a team. Teamwork... Looks, throws, catches, hustles. Part of one big team. Bats himself the live-long day, Babe…

Back in the day, when a cook lost on Top Chef, cohost Padma Lakshmi would tell the loser to "pack your knives" and go home. (At least she said it in her soft, sensual voice.) But for the last two seasons, eliminated contestants were given a chance at redemption on Last Chance Kitchen (viewable on…

Fans of Top Chef were probably not surprised that the first to go was young Jeffrey Jew, a personal chef formerly of Washington, D.C. Problem is, he only looks young. Jew was 34 when the episode was taped. He not only has years of experience both stateside and in London, but also graduated at the…

Let me preface this item by saying I am not the biggest fan of Guy Fieri, the Food Network celebrity with the bleached-blonde spikey hair who hosts Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives. I pretty much lost all interest in him when he started doing ads for T.G.I. Friday's—are you honestly craving that Chipotle…

Last night Bravo aired the qualifying episode of Top Chef, featuring 21 chefs competing for 15 slots. Of the three D.C. chefs in the running, two succeeded and one failed—Dan O'Brien of Seasonal Pantry was asked to make an omelet for Wolfgang Puck. It wasn't pretty.

“Hello, I’m Rachael Ray,” was how Christopher Kimball introduced himself to the capacity crowd at the National Museum of American History. The audience burst into laughter without actually knowing why they were laughing—they were just excited to see the star of America’s Test Kitchen, the number…

In the spirit of the election, many D.C. eateries have concocted politically themed menus—from BLT Steak's Obama and Romney burgers to the Occidental Grill's first lady cookies. THE WEEKLY STANDARD applauds these capitalist innovations, but a serious political magazine is simply not interested in…

"Romney's High Unfavorable Rating Hampers Message on Economy" ran the headline at Bloomberg Businessweek. "Half of Americans hold an unfavorable view of Romney—a September high for a presidential challenger in the last three decades," reports Julie Hirschfeld-Davis. "Forty-nine percent of likely…

The Clam Castle, a tiny out­post along Boston Post Road on the way to Hammonasset Beach in Connecticut, serves up a menu I find irresistible: fried whole clams, clam fritters, clam strip rolls, fried shrimp, fried sea scallops, and fried cod. It reminds me of the seafood restaurant in The Simpsons,…

It’s a floral smell at the presidential suite on the 10th floor of the D.C. Park Hyatt. It’s also citrusy and with hints of wood. Or the woods. As it turns out, it is a specifically designed scent, Le Labo's Bergamote 22, and it’s actually detectable throughout the hotel. But it’s most noticeable…

Seinfeld fans surely remember the episode in which Kramer has an idea for a cologne that smells like you just came from the beach. On page D3 of this weekend's Off Duty section of the Wall Street Journal, Aleksandra Crapanzano writes,

The New York Post reports on a new cut of beef called the Vegas Strip, though in fact only the name is new. It's a shoulder cut that is so lean it needs to be grilled to no more than medium rare. (Or it can be boiled as with a Schulterscherzl.) The Post says the Vegas Strip "looks just like a…

I recently received a postcard from my alma mater announcing "GEORGETOWN IS GOING GREEN." But how? Through carbon credits? Wind turbines? The postcard explains,

For the last year, a restaurant in Washington, D.C.'s Penn Quarter has been keeping America's culinary history alive—a place where you can order Lobster Newburgh, Brunswick Stew, "Hamburg Style" steak, Blackened Croaker, and Oysters Rockefeller. The bartender happily makes rickeys, New York sours,…

If, for some reason, Angela Merkel were unable to carry out her duties as chancellor, the next in line to govern Europe's most powerful nation would be a 39-year-old Vietnamese named Philipp Rösler. It's doubtful many Americans know this. Rösler was an infant in a Vietnamese orphanage when a German…

From Politico's website, June 15, 2012 (since revised):

On Thursday I posted the story of Lycerius, a man (at least I think it's a man) who has been playing the same board of Civilization for the last 10 years. His brutal stalemate (in the year 3991 A.D.) was finally resolved once he uploaded his scenario and another player achieved a rather cunning…

From USA Today:

When a Reddit user named Lycerius revealed he's been playing the same game of Civilization for the last 10 years, little did he know his post would go viral, generating (at last count) more than 500 comments. "Man Plays Civilisation II For 10 Years, World Disintegrates into 'Nightmare of…

Vienna

Last year, the mega-law firm Dewey & LeBouef generated revenue totaling $782 million. It was the 20th largest firm according to the National Law Journal. Its clients included the Los Angeles Dodgers, the NFL Players Association, and eBay. But over the last five months, 206 of its partners defected.…

On June 6 at 9 p.m. on the Travel Channel, Adam Richman's Best Sandwich in America will premier, with 30 sandwiches from around the country facing off March Madness-style, with a winner crowned by the host at season's end. The crab cake sandwich from Faidley Seafood is representing Baltimore while…

The Drudge headline from Sunday night was "Crushing Defeat," which it certainly was for the Christian Democrats in North Rhine-Westphalia's state election. In the span of two years, the CDU plummeted from 34.6 percent of the vote to 26.3 percent within the state. The CDU's gubernatorial candidate…

Food blogger, chef, and bestselling author Michael Ruhlman is once again up in arms (you might recall his previous rant against the anti-fat brigade). This time, a reader poses a dilemma about where to host a post-wedding luncheon considering several guests "have every variation of diet extremism…

The backlash to the backlash over "pink slime" continues: This past weekend in the Washington Post business section, Dina ElBoghdady reported on the consequences resulting from the panic. What is interesting is how it's understood within the piece that, at this juncture, what transpired was an…

As I mentioned yesterday, northwest of Salzburg is a picturesque little town called F—g. And while Austrians obviously know what that word means in English, it doesn't mean it in German (that word would be ficken). So nobody seemed to be bothered by the town's name during its early existence.…

In the great tradition of its middle column stories, this morning's Wall Street Journal features a hilarious tale out of the Pentagon involving the purported portrait of Ensign Chuck Hord, "Lost at Sea 1908." Until recently the framed picture of the dashing young Annapolis grad was hanging in the C…

[Y]ou know what he wanted? Hot dogs! You know what they make those things out of, Chet? You know? Lips and a—holes!

No, not that kind of "recovering" (thank God), but the actor, comedian, and WEEKLY STANDARD contributor Larry Miller spent the last few days in the hospital after suffering a head injury, falling outside (of all places) a bar in Los Angeles on April 3. His rep told Hollywood.com, "It was…

Why do more Americans oppose Obamacare than support it? "Most Americans don't want to be forced to take on insurance," says Dr. Scott Atlas, a radiologist and professor at Stanford University. But, he goes on, the problems are much worse than that and the more one learns about the current quality…

Vienna

Vienna

Cafe Hawelka, Vienna

"Employers ought to embrace this. If you can’t beat them, you might as well join them,” John Challenger told Chicago's local Fox affiliate. “It’s a way of bringing people together. Everybody does it. It's really harmless." No, the jobs consultant isn't talking about an office key party, but rather…

In late January I spoke on the phone with Tom Colicchio, celebrity chef, restaurateur, and star of the hit reality series Top Chef, which just concluded its ninth season.

Austin chef Paul Qui remembers his parents' reaction years ago when he told them he was going to be a chef. "Really?" was their response. "Having Asian parents, they sort of expect you to be a doctor or a lawyer," he said in a phone interview this afternoon. But over the years his mother and father…

Jonathan Schrag, until today the deputy commissioner of Connecticut's Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), does not deny that he once said, "One way to push back on e-mails is to freak someone out." He also doesn't seem to deny that it's his voice left on Cynthia David's…

When Lindsay Autry began her first day on Top Chef: Texas, she was surprised to see how many of her fellow chefs made it through the audition process—they hadn't. Lindsay then learned all 28 of them would compete on-air until 16 actual contestants were left standing. "Just put your head down and…

When the late Sidney Frank created Grey Goose vodka in 1997, he was clear that this spirit must stand above the rest. Not only would it be made in France (giving it that sophisticated European aura), it would also come in a tall, frosted glass bottle with a long neck—easy to spot on the shelf and…

Last week, food writer Michael Ruhlman had a glorious screed on his blog about the war against fat:

Although viewers watch Top Chef in weekly segments, the actual filming is broken into two sections. The Texas episodes were filmed on a succession of days during the summer. After the final four chefs were selected, several months passed until they were reunited last month in British Columbia for…

All throughout Top Chef: Texas, Ed Lee has never been rattled. He may have made a few mistakes along the way, but his focus remained unbroken. (He also had little patience for incompetence and was never soft on his fellow chefs. When Sarah Grueneberg needed 9-1-1, Ed was actually annoyed by the…

Grayson Schmitz is never at a loss for words. According to the New York-based catering chef, "Whatever is in my head I say." So I couldn't resist asking her what went through her mind during the last episode of Top Chef: Texas when the special guest judge turned out to be the one and only Pee-wee…

Last year, Russia imported 55,000 live cattle to help beef up its dairy herd, which has been in serious decline since, well, since collectivization efforts first began under Stalin. As Laura Vozzella of the Washington Post points out,

As Military.com reported yesterday,

The front-page headline in yesterday's New York Post blared, "Wheely Rich: Tycoon wills $1M to driver." Not only that, but the late music mogul Alan Meltzer gave $500,000 to his doorman. At least when it comes to the doorman, it shouldn't be a surprise. In Steve Dublanica's book on tipping, Keep…

The question was, "We have many qualified, Hispanic leaders. Which of our Hispanic leaders would you consider to serve in your cabinet?" Santorum, by dint of his position on stage, got to speak first, picking the very obvious choice of up-and-coming Florida senator Marco Rubio. Gingrich came in…

Chicago chef Chris Jones respects the judges' decision, he doesn't harbor any ill will towards his competitors, and as he said on the phone earlier today, "I don't make excuses." That said, when the contestants on Top Chef: Texas were told to create a healthy version of a meal to be served at a…

It shouldn't come as a surprise that a book on a handgun's history would come out now. After all, C.J. Chivers's The Gun, about the AK-47, not only sold well but also won the Pulitzer Prize. The story of the Glock is different. It came out in the early 1980s—not as a product of a Stalinist regime…

What a week for headlines: An oceanliner keels, Rick Perry quits the race, Newt Gingrich's ex-wife talks about open marriage, and Rick Santorum wins Iowa. But the biggest news of the week is without doubt Beverly Kim's elimination from Top Chef: Texas. Yes, I'm joking, but as Beverly said over the…

With much fanfare, this past episode of Top Chef: Texas featured Restaurant Wars, which seems to excite the chefs but strikes me as the most perilous of challenges—a competent chef who volunteers to be team leader can go down with the ship, taking responsibility for others' mistakes. The chefs were…

Yes, we can all eat better and get more exercise. No, the government shouldn't take on these challenges by restricting our choices of food and drink. This is where the new website Women for Food Freedom comes in—a creation of the Independent Women's Forum meant to counter various…

As a few of my colleagues are flying back and forth from New Hampshire, what better time to talk about airplane germs. Last month, the Wall Street Journal confirmed our suspicions that flying really can make you sick. "Air travelers suffer higher rates of disease infection, research has shown,"…

For Chris Crary, the most recent casualty of Top Chef: Texas, losing isn't always a bad thing. Two years ago, back when he weighed a hefty 245 pounds ("and not in muscle," he pointed out), he decided it was time to lose weight. "I wasn't sure how my body would react," he said on the phone earlier…

Las Vegas

The Washington Post's "5 Myths" series continued this week with a holiday-themed "5 Myths about Christmas" as elaborated by James Martin, S.J. (a prolific fellow, though not to be confused with my late friend Father James Martin). For starters, Martin rightly reminds us that for Catholics,…

He was an inspiration to us all—Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger was told he didn't have the grades to get a transfer into Notre Dame. And he was too little to make it onto Ara Parseghian's heralded football team. But as we all know from the movie, Rudy made it onto campus and then onto the field. Was there…

For the fans of Top Chef: Texas who were hoping for a long, drawn-out struggle between outspoken chef Heather Terhune and Beverly Kim, last night's episode was disappointing. The Chicago chef's "braised" beef, a tribute to her mother, was judged the worst dish of the lot. Guest judge Patti LaBelle…

You can't just say that the Great Leader died of a heart attack. Instead, here is how North Korea's official news agency originally explained it: "In the whole period of his protracted revolutionary guidance, he valued and loved the people very much and always shared weal and woe with them. He…

Tuna salad or chicken salad? Why not ask your friends on Facebook? It's freezing outside. Shouldn't your friends know it's freezing, too? If you answered no to the above, you're not alone. A poll conducted by Real Simple magazine reveals the Facebook updates we find most annoying, all of which are…

On last night's episode of Top Chef Texas, the name of the game was game—namely, elk,venison, and quail. The contestants were divided into teams of two, but the combination of Beverly Kim and Heather Terhune was like oil and water (or in the words of judge Hugh Acheson, "ammonia and bleach"). Their…

Can't seem to find the right gift for your loved ones? Although there are only 11 days left before Christmas, there's no need to panic: Simply click over to the Obama 2012 store—a magical place where hope and change are alive and well. A place that sells $5 bumper stickers proclaiming "Veterans…

At his Chicago restaurant Chilam Balam, Chuy Valencia serves up a salmon-goat cheese dish that is popular with his customers. But on this week's episode of Top Chef Texas, it was anything but popular. "Smoked fish is paired with cream, which is why mild cream cheese works with lox," writes head…

Last Wednesday's episode of "Top Chef Texas" was all about chili. And Padma Lakshmi riding atop a stallion. But really it was about chili. During the Quickfire Challenge, chefs chose a chili pepper to cook with—each pepper had a monetary value depending on its heat according to the Scoville scale.…

I’d never gone to a memorial service at Arlington National Cemetery until this morning. But through a friend I was invited to attend the interment of retired Captain John Cooper Jr. who served in the United States Navy during World War II and remained active in the reserves for the next several…

Forty-seven-year-old gentle giant Keith Rhodes of Wilmington, North Carolina, was the first official casualty of Top Chef Texas. In last night's episode, much was made about Keith's buying precooked shrimp for a Quinceañera celebration, but in a phone interview, Keith explains it wasn't so much the…

If you read the above headline and were hoping to learn about ways to cut pork-barrel spending, this is not that item. But if you're a fan of Top Chef, the best cooking competition on television, do read on.

While perusing CNN.com, a headline along the right margin caught my eye: "Vote for your CNN Hero!" The teaser explained, "You can help choose the 2011 CNN Hero of the Year. Just select the individual whose accomplishment, impact and personal story inspires you the most!"

When New Jersey governor Jon Corzine lost his reelection bid to Chris Christie in 2009, part of his defeat in a Democratic state was blamed on the post-Lehman mood. Having experience as a top executive at Goldman Sachs just didn't help. But in March 2010, Corzine returned to Wall Street where he…

Over the weekend, the White House held its Halloween festivities and, as the Associated Press reports,

Among the Washington Post's endorsements in the Virginia House of Delegates is an incumbent from Fairfax named Eileen Filler-Corn. It's quite a mouthful—and a bit distracting. Remember the New Hampshire Democratic Senate candidate who challenged Republican Bob Smith in 1996? His name was Dick Swett…

Consumer experts advise us not to store perishable items like milk in the refrigerator door because of the fluctuation in temperature that occurs every time we open and close it. This explains why our milk occasionally goes bad before the expiration date. As it turns out, something similar is…

Of all the many contributions for which to thank Apple founder Steve Jobs—user-friendly PCs (easy drag and drops, visual trashcans for old files, just one disk drive), iPods and iTunes (though record stores and CD jewel case factories may disagree), and the iPhone—we would be remiss if we didn't…

It wasn't pretty. In the end, Libyan strongman Muammar Qaddafi, soaked in blood, was jostled around by rebel forces and either succumbed to his wounds or was finished off. Thanks to digital technology, the entire world can now see the dictator in his final moments and later his lifeless corpse…

In light of the rioting in Egypt and attacks against Coptic Christians, President Obama earlier this week urged restraint and calm. The White House statement read, in part,

Last night was the Spirit of Mount Vernon dinner held on the grounds of George Washington's estate, an annual gala sponsored by the Distilled Spirits Council and other associations to benefit the new George Washington National Library (some $200,000 was raised). The crowd included distillers large…

With regard to the Iranian plot to kill the Saudi ambassador at a restaurant, the Washington Post's Reliable Source reports, "Justice officials did not ID an eatery—and said there never was a specific restaurant. But they describe the suspect Mansour Arbabsiar allegedly talking with a DEA informant…

The current economic downturn (or is it the postrecession recovery?) has claimed yet another victim: Friendly's Ice Cream. The company has filed for Chapter 11 and will close 63 underperforming locations (mostly in Massachusetts) with roughly 420 restaurants remaining. Aside from the $300 million…

At some point while mindlessly channel-surfing, you no doubt stumbled on a Don Lapre infomercial. Here's one in which Lapre is touting a scheme involving "tiny classified ads" that could "earn you a fortune" of $50,000 a week without even leaving the comfort of your home.

In case you missed it, last week's Wall Street Journal featured a behind-the-scenes look at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, one of the largest resorts in the world. If you were to stay in a different room each night, it would take you more than 13 years to get through all 5,043. Needless…

Ever try loading a page from the Washington Post, only to be left in wireless limbo? Apparently you are not alone, says Post ombudsman Patrick B. Pexton. He quotes Ashish Agrawal, a senior development manager for technology at the paper, who explains, "Post Web pages are, in the tech vernacular,…

In 1961, or so we are told, Arch West came upon his first fried tortilla chip. Three years later, the company he worked for, Frito-Lay, rolled out Doritos. West died last week in Dallas at the age of 97. But what he gave us, for better and for worse, will be around for a very long time. For no…

Fearing a monopoly within the vodka industry, Russia's czarist regime tried to control it, with disastrous results. A black market soon emerged with cheaper, "unregulated" vodka that often had the same healthful benefits as turpentine. The Bolsheviks did the same thing and it wasn't pretty. As a…

According to the intro to Bar Rescue, a reality series on Spike TV, "last year, more than 5,000 failing bars nationwide closed their doors for good." As a last-ditch effort, some of these bar owners have decided to seek the advice of the show's host, Jon Taffer, one of the country's leading bar and…

There’s a much-talked-about cable series called Torchwood: Miracle Day, in which people suddenly stop dying. Not that it’s heaven: Victims of severe gunshot wounds, stabbings, and other massive trauma suffer excruciating pain but simply cannot die. A convicted killer and pedophile (played by Bill…

There's been much analysis this morning about the president's jobs speech to the joint session last night. Is any of it feasible? Where does the president go from here? Of equal interest: What was the true purpose of this speech? You can find the best political analysis right here at the WEEKLY…

I care about Social Security (even if I don't expect ever to collect it) and perked up during last night's debate when business entrepreneur Herman Cain offered his opinion on how to fix it: "I believe in the Chilean model, where you give a personal retirement account option so we can move this…

There's been a lot of talk about how the unemployment rate, currently at 9.1 percent, is putting a damper on President Obama's reelection prospects. On Sunday's edition of The Chris Matthews Show, the eponymous host pointed out that "for FDR running for his second term in the Great Depression, the…

In a recent New York Times column, Frank Bruni reported on the feud between celebrity chefs Anthony Bourdain and Paula Deen. Though it's been simmering for some time now, the tensions boiled over when the star of No Reservations told TV Guide that Deen was "the worst, most dangerous person to…

According to critics, President Obama's frequent television appearances do not boost his numbers—in fact, they either stay the same or get worse. There's also the tendency among some viewers to tune him out entirely. Either way, his supporters have placed an enormous amount of pressure on the…

There were people who had high hopes for Roberto Donna. The James Beard award winner and onetime Iron Chef America contestant was in the midst of making a comeback (after settling lawsuits against him and making deals with the tax authorities), having opened Galileo III in downtown D.C. But as Tim…

It seemed like a good idea at the time. Daimler AG (owner of Mercedes-Benz) had decided to revive Maybach, the luxury German sedan famous in the 1920s and '30s, as a way to compete with Rolls Royce and Bentley. How very late-90s of them! Last year fewer than 200 Maybachs were sold. The good news is…

Yesterday, C-SPAN followed coverage of the president's address with another looming issue: A press conference held by the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, which expressed concern that the Safe Schools Improvement Act of 2010 did not sufficiently cover the obese—in other words,…

Sure the heat index is 116 degrees. But Jaleo does have air-conditioning, and with several locations in the D.C. area, those of you who can make it to the 9th annual Paella Festival ought to do so this week—the festival (really, a special menu of limited-time varieties of exotic paella) is going on…

Earlier this week, as reported first in Süddeutsche Zeitung, the remains of Rudolf Hess were disinterred from a Protestant cemetery in Wunsiedel, Bavaria. (Der Spiegel has also reported on this in English.) Ever since the suicide of Hitler's deputy in 1987 at age 93 (he was the sole inmate at…

UVA professor and Weekly Standard contributor Paul A. Cantor recently reflected on the passing of TV legend Sherwood Schwartz, who died last week at age 94. Writing in the Washington Post, Cantor shares his correspondence with the creator of Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch. (Cantor, who wrote…

Remember when Egypt made front-page news for an entire week? But then came Libya, Syria, the debt ceiling, and Casey Anthony. And though it seems to have been forgotten by the media, there are still important developments taking place—and as a new report tells us, things aren't as bad as they may…

The issue of nuclear power will be front and center when German chancellor Angela Merkel visits Washington this week. Consider the front-page story in the May 31 Washington Post: “Germany to shut down nuclear plants by 2022: Decision in aftermath of crisis in Japan is a turnaround for Merkel.” The…

What does it mean to be an American? It's the kind of high school essay question that brings to mind those lofty notions of freedom and liberty. But that would be so 1961—and today's students are not all focused on what they can do for their country. To wit, in a recent study conducted by Stanford…

When actor-activist Michael J. Fox released his memoir Lucky Man, Phyllis Richman thought the title a bit much. Sure, the most popular celebrity suffering from Parkinson's disease has done a lot to spread awareness, but to call himself lucky? "With apologies to Michael J. Fox," writes Richman in…

According to the Associated Press,

Today's lead editorial in the Washington Post doesn't mince words in its assessment of President Obama's handling of the crisis in Syria.

The last two months have been a giant Kopfschmerz for German chancellor Angela Merkel and her coalition government. On February 20, Social Democrats in Hamburg earned 48.3 percent of the vote, allowing them to govern with an absolute majority. (Merkel's Christian Democrats, by comparison, garnered…

Last week, the partners at Howrey, LLP, voted to dissolve the 55-year-old firm. Most of the top brass have already been snatched up by other firms like Winston & Strawn and Baker Botts. Those who have yet to find new jobs will supposedly be paid until May 9. (Yet eerily, the firm's website is still…

Actor and author Harry Shearer was in town last week promoting his upcoming documentary, The Big Uneasy, about Hurricane Katrina—less a natural disaster than one created by the Army Corps of Engineers. During an interview with the Washington Post's Dan Zak, Shearer talks about his obsession with…

The Wall Street Journal reports,

For college hoops fans, this evening is much anticipated. On CBS we will hear that all-too-familiar chime signaling the beginning of March Madness. The NCAA committee will announce which 64 (65? 68? 84?) teams are going to the Big Dance. And through it all, we'll wonder whatever happened to the ACC?

For almost 20 years, Jeffrey John Shaw (nicknamed Jay) has been living in Idaho. Neighbors describe him as someone you can count on, even if he "was never a natural rancher." Everyone knew Shaw was a transplant from Boston. But no one would have guessed his real name was Enrico Ponzo and that in…

"[I]t is a parody of political correctness to argue that a hearing on domestic terrorism cannot focus solely on the Muslim community to be acceptable." Now there's a sentence you might expect from Charles Krauthammer. Except he didn't write it. Rather, these are the sentiments of Washington Post…

It was really only a matter of time. And sure enough, in the current issue of Parade was the full-page ad from the Danbury Mint featuring the Princess Kate Bride Doll. She looks radiant. Her smile is beaming. And for only $159 (plus shipping and handling) you can have her all to yourself!

In case you missed it, the Washington Post ran a fascinating story on the D.C.-based Howrey law firm, whose annual revenue once swelled to more than half-a-billion dollars but is now on the verge of collapse.

Goo Goo for Gaga. That would be one way to describe local reaction to a London shop that sold ice cream made from a mother's breast milk. Produced by Icecreamists, the flavor was named Baby Gaga and consisted partly of breast milk, vanilla pods, and lemon zest. Founder Matt O'Connor tells the…

In the weekend Wall Street Journal, bestselling foodwriter Michael Ruhlman reviews Gabrielle Hamilton's cooking memoir, Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef. Ruhlman prefaces his essay by saying the book "is not the usual 'chef memoir' in our era of…

I’ve been told 2010 was a great year for movies—everything from The King’s Speech to The Social Network to Inception. Not that I would know. As a parent of two toddlers, I get to a movie theater at most once or twice a year.

I had to double-check to make sure the author of this Washington Post op-ed was, in fact, the Richard Cohen and not someone with the same name who works at the Heritage Foundation. It is indeed the proud liberal who is fed up with those fat-cat pensions at taxpayers' expense.

There are a few interesting nuggets in the Chris Rock Esquire interview. But this little exchange between magazine contributor Scott Raab and the actor-comedian makes them sound, well, let's just say a bit insular.

As expected, Borders Books has filed for bankruptcy and is taking drastic action, closing 200 of its remaining 642 stores (the chain once had more than 1,300 locations) as part of its "restructuring" and "repositioning" effort. Earlier this week, customers received a carefully worded email from…

Yesterday on Dan Patrick's radio show, actor and wildman Charlie Sheen recounted how he was recently asked to give a pep talk to UCLA's baseball team, which made it to last year's World Series, ultimately falling to South Carolina. Among other things, Sheen imparted: "Stay away from the crack,…

The New York Post is reporting that "Hugh Hefner's iconic bachelor pad is under investigation after more than 80 guests at a conference and party there became sick with a suspected strain of Legionnaires' disease."

Years from now, your child may ask you, "Where were you during the nurse-in?" Were you sitting at home, reading the paper? Sleeping in? Or will you be able to tell your child you were there—at the Hirshhorn Museum with all the other mothers celebrating their God-given right to nurse in public? It's…

The 50th Super Bowl approaches with the same amount of trepidation as Y2K. Why? Because none of us is quite sure if we will actually be witness to Super Bowl L. Yes, it's a tradition that dates back to the very first Super Bowl. But how many people will actually look at the logo and think "Super…

Daniel Snyder, the owner of the Washington Redskins, is suing City Paper for $2 million in addition to punitive damages and court costs. Why? Because an article in the paper by Dave McKenna was packed with lies. And it was anti-Semitic. And it was mean. Really, really mean. Except that others don't…

Edmund Morris, the author of that most unconventional presidential biography Dutch, takes on some of the more popular misperceptions of our 40th president in the Washington Post's "5 Myths About" series.

At the poker tables in the Bellagio hotel, Anthony Carleo, a junior at UNLV, was telling people he was "a made guy" from Denver. He was getting comped a room, food, and drink—understandable since he had apparently dropped over $100,000 during his stay. And yet it wasn't that money had become scarce…

Aiming for that master's degree in cinematic studies? How about a thesis on the politics of Clint Eastwood? (No doubt it's already been done.) But if you're trying to find a straight path from Dirty Harry to Letters From Iwo Jima, good luck. In last weekend's Wall Street Journal, Michael Judge…

In case you missed it, last week's Washington Post had an in-depth feature on the precipitous decline of Borders Books. As Michael S. Rosenwald explains,

I can usually find an interesting article or two in the Atlantic Times. (In fact, the story about Hitler's plot to bomb New York is quite intriguing.) The front-page column by co-editor in chief Peter H. Koepf, however, is not one of them. Entitled "Reaping the whirlwind: How Germans view the…

In the spirit of, well, spirits, Starbucks plans to take advantage of Asia's emerging markets, with an eye towards the Indian subcontinent. As the Wall Street Journal recently reported:

Our Parody aside, CNN's John King informs his viewers that guest Andy Shaw should not have used the phrase "in the crosshairs." Explains King, "We're trying, we're trying to get away from that language. Andy is a good friend, he's covered politics for a long time, but we're trying to get away from…

Philip Berk, president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which runs the Golden Globe awards, told the Hollywood Reporter that host Ricky Gervais "definitely crossed the line. And some of the things were totally unacceptable. But that's Ricky." Also, "any of the references to individuals…

If you have a moment—that is, once you've caught up on emails and firmed up those resolutions—I recommend perusing Dave Barry's year in review in the Washington Post Magazine. You'll laugh, you'll cry, all at the same time.

In his recent Wall Street Journal column, Jay McInerney returned to the wines of Bordeaux. They might not be trendy but they are still very drinkable (such as a $28 bottle of Chateau Jean Faux, Bordeaux Superieur, 2007). Of course it's also hard to beat the Grand Cru's and First Growths he samples…

In last weekend's Washington Post, Robert Rigney tells us about his recent tour of Berlin below the surface. It's not exactly something the Office of Tourism likes to promote, but underground tours will give visitors and history buffs alike a view of the city rarely seen—from its tunnels to its…

A return to the medieval era is on the horizon for those living in our nation's capital—at least based on this headline in Sunday's Washington Post:

As it turns out, calling a character actor a second banana is a bit unfair. As one of my favorite character actors, Stephen Tobolowsky, pointed out in the New York Times back in September, there are plusses:

The creative geniuses at Goliath Games, out of Dreieich, Germany, have come up with a Spielzeug called Kackel Dackel, which in English could sort of be translated into "The Pooping Dachsund." At least one of the commercials by Goliath (the Germans pronounce it "Goaliyat") has gone viral. The…

The unthinkable has happened. A man has managed to rip off the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas, getting away with more than $1.5 million in chips. Reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

Sometimes Redskins owner Daniel Snyder reminds me of Richard Pryor in Brewster's Millions (yes, I know it's a remake). The man cannot spend money fast enough on the most absurd things. Of course Brewster's actions were part of a condition—spending $30 million in 30 days but owning nothing—in order…

The Kennedy Center Honors were held this past weekend, and once again Hollywood descended on the nation's capital. But Paul Farhi of the Washington Post wonders how and why the tributes come about the way they do.

In this week's Parade magazine, "Walter Scott" asks actress/advocate/aerobics instructor Jane Fonda about life, love, and lessons learned. It starts off harmless enough, when WS wonders if Fonda still finds exercise to be fun. Says the workout guru, "I don’t wake up saying, 'Oh boy, I’m going to…

Certainly an argument can be made that considering the movie Fair Game has already become an afterthought, having grossed a mere $7.4 million domestically, why bother giving it more attention? On the other hand, if the movie's hero, former diplomat Joe Wilson, is right, and "for people who have…

Don't you love this time of year, when folks (let's be honest here, moms and their kids) get together over hot cocoa and construct those cute little gingerbread houses? Over at the Four Seasons in Georgetown, pastry chef Charles Froke has taken the concept to a whole other level: He's managed to…

Oftentimes, the way to grow a business is by purchasing a similar business's mailing list. And so what started as a simple purchase from Crate and Barrel leads to a mailbox full of Williams & Sonoma, Restoration Hardware, and Pottery Barn catalogs—not to mention all the various subcategories such…

Last Sunday, actor Leslie Nielsen died of complications from pneumonia. He was 84. Although he is best known for the Naked Gun trilogy and Airplane!, Nielsen had been in the acting business for more than 60 years, playing a good number of unfunny roles, such as Commander Adams on Forbidden Planet…

Today's featured op-ed in the Washington Post, "North Korea's consistent message to the U.S.," is by former President Jimmy Carter. In case you have forgotten, Carter has been to the DPRK in both official and unofficial capacities. He has a relationship with the regime and speculates that all the…

Having just been to Dallas this past weekend, I can tell you no one, and I mean no one, wants to talk about NFL football down there. They'll talk sports—including the Rangers and college football—but there will be no mention of the Dallas Cowboys, America's Team. On Sunday I visited an old college…

Bad enough for the Democrats that they just lost their House majority and saw their Senate advantage tumble from 60 seats two years ago to 53 (it could have been worse), but now they must brace for the effects of the 2010 Census. As the Washington Post's Charles Lane reminds us,

Now that the 6-foot-7, 330-pound former Eagles offensive tackle Jon Runyan has been elected to Congress, it's worth contemplating how the leadership can best make use of him. Although the party whip is responsible for helping corral votes on key legislation, Eric Cantor may want to consider…

Adding to Michael Warren's findings from the "Million Moderate March" is Robert McCartney's column from this past weekend's Washington Post. Even McCartney, who admits he agrees with the concerns of many of the attendees, knows the event was not simply a call for sanity, reason, and moderation:

Chances are, if you're reading this site on the weekend before Election Day, you are searching hungrily for political insight, the latest Rasmussen, Gallup, Monmouth, Quinnipiac (my favorite), Harris, or network poll on races across the country. Well, you've come to the right place. But you do also…

The last time I was at the Elks Lodge of Toms River, NJ, was during a comic book convention 25 years ago. (It's where I bought Amazing Spider-Man #129, in which the Punisher makes his first appearance. I'm told it's actually worth something today.) Last Sunday night I found myself back at the…

"Struggling cable news net CNN has fallen to another 10-year low in terms of ratings," MediaBuyerPlanner reported last week.

In this weekend's New York Times Magazine, Peter Baker profiles President Obama. He seems to have spent a serious amount of time with Obama and his aides—some on the record, others on background. If you're wondering what is our commander in chief thinking (you might not want to know), "The…

First the sad news: Stephen J. Cannell has died. As the Los Angeles Times reports, the longtime Hollywood producer passed away last week at the age of 69 due to complications from melanoma.

Well that was quick: According to a CNN statement issued today (and as reported by Politico and elsewhere):

In our current issue, John Podhoretz discusses the chore of watching serial dramas—sort of like homework for the viewer—and expresses relief about not having to follow one program in particular:

It really isn't news that President Obama thinks his daughters will get a better education at the Sidwell Friends private school than at a local public institution. But when he talks about the "heartbreaking" scenes of parents with children who don't get admitted to charter schools in Waiting for…

Rachida Dati, the former French minister of justice, suffered a slip of the tongue during a televised discussion when she made mention not of inflation but rather fellatio. (The two words in French are quite similar.) According to the BBC:

In this past weekend's Wall Street Journal, Patrick Cooke has a fascinating review of Chrysler's Turbine Car. Yes, the automotive giant once managed to install a jet engine under a vehicle's hood. The performance results were off the charts:

In this recession, with university endowments taking a hit nationwide, some schools are spending that extra dollar on rebranding efforts to attract ever more students—students (or their parents) who will be forking over hundreds of thousands of dollars. The latest example is American University,…

At a policy luncheon last week hosted by the Hoover Institution, professors David Brady and Douglas Rivers presented their findings on the mood of the electorate and, in particular, the mood of independents going into the midterm election. The way they see it, the results in November will not be…

Two item-addenda: First, regarding Martena Clinton, whose car was towed during a gala for security reasons and was told by D.C. police they could not relocate it. (Clinton's friend eventually found it the next day—around the corner.) As one reader points out, a detail that was reported by Shankar…

Why are we not surprised—but nevertheless outraged—to hear the story of Martena Clinton, who attended a presidential gala over the weekend, parked her car in a spot a police officer told her was legit, later discovered it had been moved for security purposes, and was ultimately told by D.C. police…

Have you ever wondered if you were being had when it comes to drinking wines by the glass? First, the obvious: If you are, say, drinking alone and have no intention of downing an entire bottle of Cabernet, wouldn't it make sense to purchase that $15 glass as opposed to wasting $50 worth? You're…

Der Spiegel reports that the Brazilian firm Embraer, the world's third largest producer of commercial airplanes, is contemplating a future, in which only one human pilot is needed to fly a passenger jet. He or she would be assisted by either computers onboard, flight control on the ground, or…

October 4 marks the redemption of former New York governor Eliot Spitzer. That Monday his new show debuts on CNN, cohosted by conservative columnist Kathleen Parker—it's called Parker Spitzer, as opposed to (insert joke here).

As the Wall Street Journal's John Jurgensen wrote back in July, this summer's concert scene has been a depressing one, with more than your usual share of musical acts cancelling shows and some cancelling their tours altogether. But the administration's Recovery Summer tour, starring Barack Obama…

As we reported earlier, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is downplaying his urging of DOE employees (and not just the political appointees) to take part in last Saturday's Al Sharpton counter-rally in Washington, describing it as a "back-to-school" event. And as CATO's Neal McCluskey reminds us,…

Well that was quick. Just last week Matthew Futterman wrote in the Wall Street Journal that "as the U.S. Open begins on Monday, Andy Roddick will be celebrating his 28th birthday. He will also be facing what could be his last realistic shot at glory." Then suddenly, Roddick, ranked 9th, was ousted…

From now to September 15, and between September 26 and December 15, passengers on the Amtrak Cardinal can enjoy a 20 percent discount. And if you depart mid-September, you'll most likely arrive at your destination by mid-December. Seriously, if you leave New York's Penn Station at 6:45 am on a…

In this past weekend's Wall Street Journal, Weekly Standard senior editor Robert Messenger reviews Daniel Swift's Bomber County: The Poetry of a Lost Pilot's War. Yes, much of the book grapples with the moral justifications for strategic bombing (the author himself reportedly does not take sides).…

Last Friday at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, at least one hundred guests were sickened by toxic fumes emanating from the pool complex, some 1,500 guests were then evacuated from the vicinity, and 26 were hospitalized for respiratory problems. Luckily, none of the victims' injuries were…

Scottsdale, Arizona

Despite worsening poll numbers for the president, his party, and his policies, Vice President Joseph Biden has been dispatched to assure fellow Democrats that things aren't as bad as they seem.

In this weekend's Wall Street Journal, Dilbert creator Scott Adams explains how his earnest attempts to go green were thwarted by reality, impracticality, even aesthetics.

The consequences of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster continue: The soil in places like Bavaria, Germany, still has a measurable amount of Cesium, which in turn is being passed on to the wild boar population, which feeds on truffles and mushrooms. (And it doesn't help that by nature they tend to stick…

You knew it was inevitable that following the success of Avatar, there would be a pornographic film aiming to become the first in 3D. It's a competition as fierce as the race to the moon.

I tend to chafe when Michelle Obama and a "panel of experts" tells me I need to reduce my caloric intake. And I get downright nervous when these experts start telling restaurants how much they should be allowed to serve us. But the case against the nanny state has just been dealt a blow in the form…

Jean-Francois Poinard, a rather prominent chef in Lyon, had been missing for some time. Then authorities were tipped off about a chest freezer inside the apartment Poinard shared with his girlfriend.

There once was a time when Roberto Donna was the toast of the town. The Turinese chef and restaurateur ran the flagship Galileo, Bebo Trattoria (a favorite of Justice Scalia's), and, over the years, places like Il Radicchio, Arucola, i Matti, and Primi Piatti. That was then.

Somehow I missed yesterday's This Week on ABC, which marked the debut of the show's newest host, Christiane Amanpour. But Tom Shales caught it. And he didn't much like it. One of the problems, according to Shales, is that "[Amanpour is] miscast for the role, her highly touted global orientation…

For musicians, managers, and venue owners, the fears of a concert going awry are multiple. Often the problem is crowd control (the 11 fans who were stomped to death at the Who concert in Cincinnati in 1979). Sometimes it stems from security (the Hells Angels at the Altamont Speedway in 1969). Other…

Travel writing can be tough, despite what you might think. You're jotting down notes about the beautiful sunset, rather than just watching it. Coming up with the right words is a constant struggle. And still I wonder with great envy how Toni Bentley, a ballerina and author, landed the plum…

For Shirley Sherrod, the moment of retribution has arrived. Not only has she focused her guns on the vast right-wing conspiracy, but she has also singled out Fox News as leading the charge. Why? As the former Ag employee told Media Matters, the network would "love to take us back to where we were…

No doubt the president's breakfast was ruined this morning when he picked up the Washington Post and saw the front-page above-the-fold headline: "House Democrats hit boiling point over perceived lack of White House support." In it, Democratic representatives named and unnamed sound off on both…

No doubt the president's breakfast was ruined this morning when he picked up the Washington Post and saw the front-page above-the-fold headline: "House Democrats hit boiling point over perceived lack of White House support." In it, Democratic representatives named and unnamed sound off on both…

The United Nations' refusal to condemn North Korea for sinking a South Korean vessel is regrettable but not surprising. In 1995, the U.N. allowed a nightmare to transpire when the blue helmets under Dutch command negotiated with Serbian general Ratko Mladic and in the process allowed thousands of…

Kudos to Paul the Octopus for selecting Spain as the winner of this year's World Cup (and selecting Germany for third place in Saturday's game). In all, the "psychic" cephalopod correctly—and consecutively—picked eight matches. The Germans hailed him as one of their own until he chose Spain over…

You'd think the life of Paul the Octopus, living in a German seaquarium, couldn't get any better. He never has to worry about predators, food is never scarce, and the people love him. The only strenuous exercise for the cephalopod is selecting winners for World Cup matches, which he has done…

Had Germany been triumphant in today's semifinal match, all the talk would have been about the Dutch seeking revenge for World War II. Instead, Spain scored the one and only goal, proving once again that Paul the Octopus is all-knowing. (He is now taking bets for the Super Bowl.)

With the second World Cup semifinal underway, it is worth noting that one very accurate predictor (at least this time around) has chosen Spain over Germany. Previously he picked Germany over Argentina, Germany over England, and, stunningly, Serbia over Germany—all of which proved correct. As you…

As I mentioned in a previous column, there are "serious Germans" who are certain that their team's success in the World Cup will spill over to the governing coalition. The better the Mannschaft does, the better for Angela Merkel. Of course it's not just sports that could save the chancellor's…

In a recent Washington Post column, economics reporter Howard Schneider had an intriguing take on the remake of The Karate Kid and the film's view of America in decline, China's rise, environmentalism, and the power of globalization. In other words, this remake is a real downer—at least for those…

Is Angela Merkel’s government on the verge of dissolution? “Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germanay faced calls from opposition leaders .  .  . for new elections, as bickering and fighting within her governing coalition has led to growing speculation in the German news media that a collapse of her…

As Lisa de Moraes reported in the Washington Post, the ratings for last week’s season opener of Top Chef D.C. were dismal: With a mere 1.8 million viewers, the episode was the lowest rated opener in Top Chef history (compare with the 2.6 million who watched the first episode of Top Chef Las Vegas…

To this date, South Carolina Democrats are still confounded by their candidate for Senate, Alvin Greene. The unemployed veteran, currently using a public defender to deal with an obscenities charge, not only mustered the filing fee of $10,400 but also won handily with 58 percent of the vote.…

In case you missed it (as can be the case with weekend editorials), the Saturday edition of the Washington Post contained a strong editorial recommending President Obama lend his full support to the demonstrators and reformers in Iran.

It's been a few days since we learned not only that Rush Limbaugh has married for the fourth time but also that the musical entertainment was provided by Sir Elton John. How on God's earth did this happen?

And then there were two: Of the main cast of the hit NBC sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, which ran from 1978-1986, only two actors remain--Todd Bridges (older brother Willis Jackson) and Conrad Bain (father Phillip Drummond). Sadly it has been reported that Gary Coleman has just died after suffering from…

The Washington Post calls out the White House over its refusal to elaborate on Representative Joe Sestak's claim he was offered a job by the administration in return for backing out of the Pennsylvania Democratic Senate primary. The editorial reads, in part:

Almost 20 years ago, Oliver Stone's conspiracy flick JFK was released and much lampooned for its zany plotlines tying the Cubans, the CIA, and other parts of the federal government (including LBJ!) to the murder of President Kennedy. But there is one description Stone got right, beginning around…

Well that was quick. Taking power only last fall, Angela Merkel's governing coalition has already suffered a major setback. Following yesterday's elections in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia—Germany's most populous state—the ruling Christian Democrat-Free Democrat government was toppled.

When news first broke of the murder of Shaw Middle School principal Brian Betts, the outpouring of grief from the student body and the D.C. community was immense. "With him, potentially more than any other principal in this city, these children are going to be devastated because they have such an…

Having lived in Austria just as it was entering the European Union (1993-1994), I can tell you the charms of the EU were irresistable—all those pins and stickers and posters in deep blue with twelve golden stars arrayed in a circle! And the benefits: No more traffic jams at the border. Live in…

The press secretary's office for New Jersey's governor must be pretty busy these days. Or weeks, to be exact. Not only was Chris Christie interviewed in the Wall Street Journal, but he was described by the Journal's Bill McGurn as bringing to voters "a dose of Reagan Republicanism—with a Jersey…

There's a handy resource for those in the restaurant industry and those simply interested in the numbers and the trends behind the food we order. It's Restaurants & Institutions. What was the top-grossing independent restaurant in America last year? That would be the Tao Las Vegas Restaurant &…

Washington Post television critic Tom Shales feels bad for Larry King. The columnist's sources tell him CNN executives will try to ease out the talk show host the way network executives always do: ruthlessly, without regard for the past, but with kind words to say at the same time. Nevertheless,…

The Wall Street Journal recently reported on the hottest boat on the high seas, simply known as the "A." Designed by Philippe Starck and owned by Russian businessman Andrey Melnichenko, the boat boasts everything from $40,000 bath knobs to bomb-proof glass to a special "nookie" room containing a…

Perhaps one of the most astute observations by Washington Post TV critic Tom Shales, who recently reviewed the U.K. debate among Labour's Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Conservative David Cameron, and Liberal Nick Clegg:

On the face of it, a Republican takeover of the House (or Senate) would seem a good thing—a clear repudiation by the voters of Obama-Pelosi-Reid and the agenda they've proposed. GOPers can claim victory and hold their heads high. But to quote Senator Bill McKay in The Candidate, "What do we do now?"

Variety's Michael Schneider lays out in full detail why Conan O'Brien did not end up at Fox:

Over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal reported on the brouhaha (pardon the pun) taking place at the Carlsberg brewing company:

The Washington Post reports on a suspected drunk driver, Rene Fernandez, who swerved onto oncoming traffic, smashing his Chevy Tahoe into a Honda Accord, critically injuring an elderly couple, Edwin and Ellen Collier. This wasn't Fernandez's first mishap. In 1998 he pleaded guilty twice to driving…

Okay, he's not really crazy. Odd, sure. And calculating. But things are never so simple, as Radio Free Europe's Jeff Gedmin explains in Foreign Policy:

The columnist and bestselling author John Feinstein is arguing yet again that expanding the NCAA basketball tournament from 65 teams to 96 is detrimental to the sport in so many ways. "In short, this is the worst idea anyone has come up with since New Coke," he writes. And still Feinstein is…

Is it possible to garner a bad review for the opening of something so innocuous-sounding as the German-American Heritage Museum? If the reviewer is the Washington Post's Marc Fisher, anything is possible. (Fisher was the former German correspondent for the Post, before foreign correspondents became…

Last year President Barack Obama filled out his NCAA tournament bracket and predicted (as many did) that North Carolina would take the whole thing. He was right. And he was very popular at the time, too, I might add. This year the president's approval numbers have tanked—he's somewhere around 46…

Actor Peter Graves, aka Jim Phelps of Mission Impossible, died yesterday of natural causes at the age of 83.

From Saturday's Washington Post: "Spotted: ... Stevie Wonder at Blues Alley on Thursday night. He stopped in to see saxophonist Najee and jumped onstage for two songs."

The Daily Caller's Mike Colapietro has written a head-to-toe profile (with various stops along the way) of "Manhattan Madam" Kristin Davis, made famous by the Eliot Spitzer scandal. She is now running for governor of New York. A few highlights:

For those of you familiar with The Two Coreys, didn't you think Corey Feldman would have been the one to die of an overdose? Of course if you followed the eponymous reality series on AE, it soon became clear Corey Haim was the one with the problems.

On the one hand, Austrians are rightfully proud that one of their own is coming home with an Academy Award. Last night, Christoph Waltz took home the best supporting actor Oscar for his truly impressive performance in Quentin Tarentino's Inglourious Basterds. On the other hand, Waltz portrayed the…

I mean literally, what does "hurt locker" mean? The BBC News explains.

Thanks (or no thanks) to a colleague who sent me this link, I've been catching up all afternoon with the Jenkinses, Partridges, and Bradfords. Yes, NBC's Today show has managed to bring together in its studio the cast of such classics as 227, The Partridge Family, and Eight Is Enough. Or at least…

As it turns out, Western Europe doesn't much care for the burka. In fact, many Europeans favor a ban. The numbers, based on a Harris poll for the Financial Times, are quite stunning: 70 percent of respondents in France, 65 percent in Spain, 63 percent in Italy, 57 percent in the U.K., and 50…

From yesterday's issue of the Onion:

As absurd as that question sounds, according to a new book, it's true, in a roundabout sort of way. The Decision Tree by Thomas Goetz, recently excerpted in the Washington Post, points out the skyrocketing cost of CT scans:

As it turns out, February 22 is not only George Washington's birthday but also Single Tasking Day. In other words, amid the emails, voicemails, texts, and tweets, let us pause for a moment and get one thing done that we've been meaning to do for a long time.

I remember thinking that maybe I should have taken a cab or even walked back to Stanford's campus. But my dining companion insisted on driving me. At the time, Arnold Beichman had just turned 90 and still enjoyed driving his minivan. But it was dark. And riding shotgun, I could see Arnold was…

Marion Barry just can't seem to catch a break. The former mayor and current councilman needed a kidney transplant, was treated on a few occasions for his drug addiction, was accused of adultery, and blamed for any number of things during his tenure (poor city services, skyrocketing murder rates).…

The headline in Der Spiegel says it all: "Who Has the Longer Pipeline?" Five years after Gerhard Schröder and Joschka Fischer served in the same coalition government—the former as chancellor and the latter as foreign minister—both men are now working in various capacities for different natural gas…

Financial Times readers received an important clarification email today regarding Edward Luce's interview with John Podesta:

If someone accuses you of something untoward, try responding with, "Hey, I was just keeping it real." At least this is what 17-year-old Helene Hegemann has been doing—and quite effectively. Hegemann is already the toast of the town, having written and staged a play, and boasting a film-writing…

A priceless line from today's online Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: "Whoever is on welfare in Rotterdam must now do at least something to receive his money."

Bad enough (for Europe) that President Obama decided to skip the EU summit in Madrid this May, but making matters worse is that Spanish prime minister Jose Luís Zapatero was already in Washington and was unable to meet with the president. In fact, he wasn't even able to meet with Joe Biden. The…

Just last week I chatted with a veteran Post reporter who was lamenting the sad decline of print journalism—the folding up of the Washington Post's business and book review sections, the multiple rounds of buyouts, and the dearth of copyeditors. The New Republic devoted a recent cover to the…

As if there isn't enough for the French to worry about these days: climate change, the global financial crisis, the World Cup, farm subsidies, Cannes, terrorism. But now they are facing a threat to that which is most sacred—their language. According to the Financial Times, "Senior French officials…

While everyone seems to be all atwitter (quite literally) about Sarah Palin's hinting that she will run in 2012 "if I believe that that is the right thing to do for our country," it is worth noting the only actual name she mentioned in her Fox News Sunday interview last Sunday—Representative Paul…

When Burger King opted to go with "The King"—a sort of adult version of Ronald McDonald that some have described as "creepy"—it took a huge risk. But it was a calculated risk: BK executives decided they would focus their marketing energies on "super fans" (18- to 34-year-olds) instead of older…

Well, not the actual, geographical border—but tensions are certainly on the rise between the two countries because of banking secrecy laws. The German government is cracking down on tax cheats such as Deutsche Post CEO Klaus Zumwinkel, but in order to do so, it needs access to the private records…

It's bad enough for passengers flying coach to be subjected to reduced flights with packed cabins, little leg room, and no food service to most domestic destinations (or food that can only be purchased), but must there be a special carpet at the gate that only business and first-class passengers…

With already more than 500,000 views, the "Fear the Boom and Bust" video starring John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich Hayek is not exactly news. Still, in case you missed it, I've posted it below.

No one loves Barack Obama more than the District of Columbia. This goes without saying. During the 2008 presidential election, the nation's capital delivered all 142 precincts to the president, which amounted to a whopping 93 percent support. So when the city council decided to formally invite…

With the death of Catcher in the Rye author J.D. Salinger, it is worth revisiting an extensive essay on the man written by former Weekly Standard editor David Skinner, who currently edits Humanities magazine. Published in 1999, it was entitled "The Sentimental Misanthrope":

Last night President Obama reminded us that "one year ago, I took office amid two wars, an economy rocked by severe recession, a financial system on the verge of collapse, and a government deeply in debt." Later, he imagined what some on the right would argue: "That if we just make fewer…

Ahead of tomorrow's London conference, German chancellor Angela Merkel announced her country would be deploying an additional 500 troops to Afghanistan—far short of what the Obama administration was hoping for, namely, 2,000 more soldiers. In addition, reports the Financial Times, "Germany would…

My friend John Buckley, who works for an investment company in New York, called me the other day with explicit advice: "Whatever you do, don't use the headline 'What Can Brown Do For You?'" with regard to Senator-elect Scott Brown's historic win in Massachusetts.

On the local Fox news, I just watched a segment on the death of Daniel Kerrigan, father of Olympic skater Nancy Kerrigan. The 70-year-old Mr. Kerrigan was reportedly having an argument with his son Mark that took a physical turn—police found the elder Kerrigan unconscious, and he died shortly…

It was recently announced that three prisoners from Guantánamo Bay will be transferred to Slovakia, just as previous inmates were sent to Great Britain and Bermuda. The Slovaks insist the prisoners pose no harm, which makes me a bit more worried for them. For what happens if the three arrivals are…

One of the more annoying moments of President Obama's Q&A with George Stephanopoulos came when the president said, "If there's one thing that I regret this year is that we were so busy just getting stuff done and dealing with the immediate crises that were in front of us that I think we lost some…

Back in the 1930s, when Glen Bell was a teenaged migrant worker riding trains in California looking for a job, he probably didn't imagine that he'd one day found a fast-food empire of Mexican-American fare that earns billions of dollars in annual sales and be forever connected to a talking…

Chefs and restaurateurs have always been known for fundraising—Escoffier raised money for victims of the Titanic and, more recently, a woman donated $25,000 for cancer research and in return supped at the home of Jacques Pépin—so it's not surprising that someone like Ashok Bajaj is doing his part…

The notice in the Washington Post was tiny, buried on page B2, under the headline "Sex trade crackdown": "D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles announced a crackdown Wednesday on massage parlors, health spas and social clubs that officials have found to be associated with prostitution and illegal…

Soul legend Teddy Pendergrass died yesterday at Bryn Mawr Hospital outside of Philadelphia. His son informed the Philadelphia Inquirer that he never fully recovered from recent colon cancer surgery. He was 59 years old. You might not be too familiar with Pendergrass, but you probably would still…

At the very least, the mess that NBC has embroiled itself in will probably cause ratings to rise for both Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien, right up to their final shows next month. How would both men react to the network strife? Would they simply brush over the news or tackle it head on? As it turned…

I'm betting Jeff Zucker is wishing he could take it all back. As head of NBC/Universal, Zucker thought he found a way to have his cake and eat it too, i.e., retaining both Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien and saving money at the same time. But as Variety reported over the weekend, the arrangement proved…

Thanks to Weekly Standard reader Cole Kendall who kindly passes on to me the rather extensive (and much misspelled) inventory list for the R.W. Apple wine auction since I had complained that in the Washington Post article, only one vintage had been mentioned.

On a few occasions and much to its credit, Der Spiegel has gone out in search of that odd species (to most Germans, at least) known as the conservative—and in particular, conservative intellectuals who make powerful arguments. (Some Germans with whom I've spoken could not admit to being persuaded…

“None of us is irreplaceable,” said retiring senator Chris Dodd. The sentiment not only applies to beleaguered incumbent senators who enjoy smashing portraits on the ground at fine restaurants, but also to the fine restaurants themselves. For as the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, New…

Analysts are predicting that the blast of cold weather over much of the country will damage this year's orange crops, ultimately leading to more expensive orange juice at your local supermarket, thus adding to the burden of Americans with tighter budgets. According to the Associated Press, "The…

According to Radio Farda's Golnaz Esfandiari, "Iranian state television has produced a documentary suggesting the shooting death of a young woman whose final moments were captured on video during postelection protests was a fake." What's more, Neda Agha Soltan is accused of spying on behalf of the…

I would have been more interested in J. Freedom du Lac's tale of the widow of R.W. Apple auctioning off the Timesman's wine collection had he elaborated a bit more on what vintages were actually up for sale. The only ones he specifically mentions are two bottles of 1945 Chateau Lafite. Still, it's…

For a few Bundestag members who were visiting Washington earlier this month, whether they were on Capitol Hill or at the State Department, the question they heard most often was whether or not Germany would be increasing its troop strength in Afghanistan. "It's understandable," said Stephan Mayer,…

Okay, not really. But overheard at last week's Aerospace Industries Association Year-End Review & Forecast Luncheon: Julian Hellebrand, chief of staff for Cobham (whose guest I was), excitedly told me about his company's myriad accomplishments this past year and the upcoming year's challenges. But…

For parents concerned about the "sexting" phenomenon and wondering how much of it is media hype, the Pew Research Center has some answers. According to its Internet & American Life Project, a mere 4 percent of teens between 12 and 17 years of age say they have sent explicit photos of themselves…

According to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, 43 percent of those interviewed now have an unfavorable view of Tiger Woods versus 42 percent who still view him favorably. In addition, "Men tilt favorably toward Woods, while women lean negative. (Men are 46 percent favorable, 41 percent…

In a bit of macabre news, the body of the late president of Cyprus, Tassos Papadopoulos, has been stolen from its grave. According to the BBC, "The theft was reported by a former bodyguard who visited the tomb and found piles of earth by the graveside and an empty coffin." No motive has yet been…

Barker Davis, a sportswriter for the Washington Times, confirms to the Georgetown Voice that as part of the massive ongoing purge, the Sports section will definitely be disappearing by February: As of Feb. 2 at the absolute latest, the Times won't be covering ANY local sports, not Redskins, Caps,…

I recently received a brochure from my alma mater, Georgetown University, entitled "Around the World by Private Jet: An Exploration of the World's Greatest Treasures & Legendary Places" running from September 28 to October 19, 2010. The 22-day journey includes visits to Machu Picchu, Easter Island,…

I seemed to have missed the news that in Russia's state schools, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago is now required reading--a monumental step for a country that continues to grapple with the darker moments of its history. (I know, tell me which part of Russian history is not dark?) To wit,…

Classic Rock aficionados, still suffering from the transformation of the Beatles into a video game, can now look forward to REO Speedwagon: Find Your Own Way Home. Yes, a video game based on the 1970s-80s band REO Speedwagon has been developed. According to the New York Times, "The game is intended…

In a Washington Post column this past weekend, sports author extraordinaire John Feinstein takes on the Tiger Woods controversy. And while there's an argument to be made that the man should be left alone -- what business is it of ours to know why he crashed into a hydrant and a tree? -- Feinstein…

Today's Wall Street Journal has an amazing and -- if you enjoy the occasional gaming experience -- thoroughly engrossing feature story on Terrance Watanabe, who this year ran up a gambling debt of $127 million -- supposedly the biggest losing streak in Vegas history. Harrah's casino claims Mr.…

If you spend as much time watching television--particularly children's programs -- as I do lately, you are probably wondering the same thing I am: Since when did the Sun-Maid Girl become hot? Apparently the computer-animated version of the Sun-Maid Girl has been out and about, gallivanting through…

While Swiss and U.S. authorities are still working out the extradition of Roman Polanski, the director and convicted rapist is being placed under house arrest. His "house," however, is actually a chalet worth $1.6 million according to the Associated Press, which also provides a photo supposedly of…

Nice to see CNN giving Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty its due--and timed just right to mark the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution. Besides interviewing the always impressive head of RFE/RL, Jeffrey Gedmin, the CNN reporter also spends time talking with Pavel Pechacek, a journalist who was…

Normally I tend not to get as worked up about our national eating habits like, say, the Center for Science in the Public Interest or Mayor Bloomberg. Is there an obesity problem in America? Sure. Childhood obesity even moreso. Do we need to ban trans-fats from cities like New York or sue fast-food…

Whenever I offer career advice to students, I tell them that journalism is a great profession because, given enough time to read up on the subject, we can write on almost anything we like. Of course in the midst of a recession, such advice may be deemed useless--after all, is anyone even hiring? A…

According to Morris P. Fiorina, a political science professor at Stanford University, Americans are not as far apart on the issues as you might think-or, more to the point, as the media portray them to be. Speaking at a lunch this afternoon hosted by the Hoover Institution, Fiorina laid out his…

Tears in the Darkness

At least when it comes to Iran, German chancellor Angela Merkel seems to be taking a rather tough stand. Addressing a joint session of Congress yesterday, Merkel said: Tolerance does not mean "anything goes." There must be zero tolerance towards all those who show no respect for the inalienable…

Berlin

Following that three-month study by McKinsey, Condé Nast has decided to shut down four magazines, the most surprising of which is Gourmet. (No one seemed too shocked that Cookie was closing. The other two are bridal publications.) As Stephanie Clifford of the New York Times reports: "None of the…

Michael Deacon of the Telegraph has unearthed a wonderful little quotation from an interview Roman Polanski gave to Martin Amis in Tatler in 1979, one that, along with the original grand jury testimony, should be spread far and wide: "If I had killed somebody, it wouldn't have had so much appeal to…

At 6pm local time, Germans found out who won today's election. With roughly 48 percent of the vote, the CDU and the FDP will form the next coalition government. But more impressive, the Free Democrats garnered an unprecedented 14.8 percent. At the FDP party hall, the crowd erupted in a deafening…

Berlin One of the strange things about my trip to Germany has been the weather -- downright balmy and mostly blue skies. Those Central European dark clouds and rains lasting for days that have greeted me in the past are mysteriously absent. I suspect they will return next month along with the…

So what makes those Germans different from us, aside from their wearing black socks and Birkenstocks? For starters, they don't spend as much on political races as we do. In total, all the parties spent the combined amount of 50 million euros (about $70 million). That's it. Compare this to the Obama…

It's strange to be sitting here in the middle of Pariser Platz, directly in front of the Brandenburg Gate, awaiting the arrival of the chancellor candidate of the Social Democratic Party, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, to take the stage. Thousands have gathered to support a party in danger of getting a…

Who knew the Germans loved their parties? Whereas most Americans tend to choose between Republicans and Democrats, in Germany there are five parties that could plausibly share power. The five are the Christian Democrats and Bavarian partner Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU), the Social Democrats…

Be sure to drop by the Mercedes-Benz Museum. It's like the Fortress of Solitude operated by Disney. The elevators look like something out of Minority Report. The actual design is a double-helix and the lifts are meant to symbolize time machines complete with motor sound effects. There's a Boeing…

Merkel. Steinmeier. The Grand Coalition. Schwarz-Gelb. The Traffic Light Coalition. The Free Democrats. The Far Left Party. The Greens. Rising unemployment. Opel. Afghanistan. Immigration. That's right-it's election time in Germany and beginning tomorrow I will be reporting from Stuttgart and…

Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, New Jersey, and the subject of the 2005 Oscar-nominated documentary Street Fight, is once again at the center of a new 5-part docu-series, Brick City, airing on the Sundance Channel all next week. In one way, Brick City is a sequel to Street Fight. Now that Booker…

The 2009 Transatlantic Trends survey is out and guess what? Europeans love Barack Obama. I kid you not. They love the guy. The survey, organized by the German Marshall Fund of the United States, among other foundations, was conducted between June 9 and July 1 and covers 11 European nations, both in…

The government is too involved in the recovery of our economy. It's a bad thing. It sets a bad precedent. Part of the problem stems from the last recession, in which interest rates were held at 1 percent, lower for a longer period of time than was good for the country. Next thing you know, you've…

McDonald's doesn't mess around. It's not enough to be the biggest fast-food giant in the world. It's got to keep fighting. Keep expanding. Keep moving, like a shark. Hence, McD's introduction of specialty coffees (McCafé) giving Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts a run for their money. And now, the…

I'm not quite sure what to expect when Tom DeLay takes to the dance floor on next month's Dancing With the Stars. But I can't get out of my mind David Brent's "performance" in BBC's The Office. (Remember how Brent describes his style: "I've sort of fused Flashdance with M.C. Hammer shit." Also note…

Funny how Obamacare makes for strange bedfellows. After Whole Foods CEO John Mackey expressed his opposition to the administration's health care reform plans in the Wall Street Journal, liberals have been up in arms, and as reported by Ylan Q. Mui in today's Washington Post, a Boycott Whole Foods…

Christopher Kimball knows what you are eating.

As Sandhya Somashekhar reports in this morning's Washington Post, President Obama is sure to play a role in Virginia's gubernatorial race. But at the moment he seems to be more of a burden then a benefit to Democrats: Some voters who supported Obama are feeling a bit disillusioned and are wondering…

Four men, four different beers. (Really three different beers and one nonalcoholic beverage.) It remains unclear what Obama was hoping to have achieved with the summit. Would Professor Gates admit he lost his temper and said things to a law enforcement officer he shouldn't have? Would Officer…

I knew Saab made fine cars and even finer fighter jets but I wasn't quite familiar with its other products, namely its man-portable weapons systems, including the AT4 84mm recoilless anti-tank rocket. As advertised on its website, "Using AT4 CS AST the soldier will always have access to an accurate…

Remember when it was rumored that some drinks in New York City were costing as much as $10? Now, of course, cocktails can cost as much as $20 at a trendy District bar. But in this economy, things couldn't possibly get worse, could they? According to the beverage giant Diageo, the answer is yes.…

In case you missed it, WEEKLY STANDARD contributor David Skinner has a terrific piece in the current issue of Humanities, which he edits. Entitled "Ain't That the Truth," the essay tackles Webster's Third, "The Most Controversial Dictionary in the English Language." Why controversial? Where to…

When KFC announced its latest marketing ploy--grilled chicken--and started calling itself "KGC," two thoughts came to mind. The first was that Kentucky Fried Chicken without the fried is, to paraphrase Sam Kinison, "like Christmas without Christ." Why is there so much shame when it comes to…

Honestly, I was only joking about Governor Schwarzenegger going (literally) ballistic with legislators over the budget. But in the spirit of life imitating art, the Governator seems to be taking things one step further with this video of him brandishing the very knife I previously described. Not…

The latest Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey poll continues to show a large number of Garden State residents unhappy with the second term of Governor Jon Corzine, giving him a C- rating and a 37 percent approval. Forty-nine percent of those polled disapprove of his performance. He also trails…

Unlike the company that makes Sharpie markers, which took advantage of Terrell Owens's touchdown stunt (signing a football with a Sharpie tucked in his shoe), the Gorilla Glue company wants nothing to do with Zell Miller's endorsement: The former senator, complaining about our jet-setting…

Are you a college student or alumnus? Does your institution have a position when it comes to religion? Is it affiliated with a faith? Perhaps it is supposed to be affiliated but, in this day and age, is willing to cover up symbols of Christ just to get the president to speak on campus? Does it…

Washington Post ombudsman Andrew Alexander discusses how the Post's cutbacks have resulted in fewer copy editors and a growing number of errors, grammatical, typographical, and factual. "Copy editors are the unsung heroes of the newsrooms," he writes. "Unknown to the public, and often…

For acts of valor in Afghanistan, four soldiers have been awarded a prestigious medal, the highest of its kind. The men reacted to a suicide bomber in Kunduz who blew himself up as well as two other soldiers and five children. Despite a fire and exploding munitions, the four sergeants did…

A long time ago, magazines and newspapers would receive feedback from readers via letters. These consisted of words in ink or pencil committed on paper. Most shockingly, the information was often handwritten. Other times a type machine was used. The writer then had to place the paper in an…

Prague At the Kolkovna bar and restaurant, upon telling the waiter I preferred nonsmoking seating, he looked at me with slight hesitation before saying that section is located not outside along the sidewalk or in the back of the room but rather in the basement. I chose the smoking section. It is…

With a diminished number of Western reporters on the ground in Tehran, more and more of whom are getting arrested, much of the news out of Iran is based on the innumerable eyewitness reports that come by phone and Internet. Making sense of it all here in Prague is Rod Shahidi, director of Radio…

A common complaint among Catholics is the lack of mystery and sense of awe when it comes to mass. Between the modern style of the church itself, the New Dawn music ("Though the mountains may fall and the hills turn to dust!"), and the bright lights, mass can become downright pedestrian. This has…

What makes these protests in Iran so different from ones in the past is that the Revolutionary Guard and other police and security forces had previously been able to step in and successfully repress the demonstrators-to the point of deterring such activities from happening in the first place. Not…

Hard to believe there was a moment after the fall of the Soviet Union when Radio Free Europe's existence came into question. Almost twenty years later, the broadcasts of RFE/RL (Radio Liberty) are in greater demand than ever in places like Georgia, Belarus, Ukraine, Afghanistan, and, of course,…

Over the weekend, President Obama went to New York to take the first lady to a Broadway show-a promise he made to her during the campaign. But how much did it cost the taxpayers? The White House isn't saying, though the Daily Mail has done some calculating: For transportation and security, the cost…

When my brother-in-law Bill Dwyer asked if I'd be interested in judging a cook-off, I leapt at the opportunity. I'd always wanted to be a food judge--though I'd never imagined that the competition would be among Bill's fellow firefighters, or that it would take place in a firehouse kitchen.

Not since the end of the Cold War have I witnessed such an intense, exhaustive, and heated debate among foreign policy scholars. The conflagration took place this morning at the Washington office of the German Marshall Fund. The hotly contested issue: Is Tom Hagen, consigliere to the Corleone crime…

This past January a pastry chef named Gaston Lenôtre died in France at the age of 88. He never had a cooking show on the Food Network. His first foray in this country was a pastry shop that opened its doors in 1974 in New York and closed a year later. Chances are, most Americans have never heard of…

According to Trendhunter magazine, on the heels of Germany's Obama fried chicken fingers, Russia has its own unseemly ad for Duet Ice Cream: "This ice cream ad reads, ‘The Flavor of the Week! Black in White! Chocolate in Vanilla' and features a chocolate and almond coated vanilla ice cream bar…

Spiegel Online reports on a new food product in Germany: Obama-Fingers. Yes, fried chicken named for our first African-American president. Not that the company responsible for this marketing gambit intended any insult. Sprehe sales manager Judith Witting tells Spiegel Online, "We noticed that…

There's nothing worse than a music review written by a devotee of the band being reviewed. The result is invariably an excess of name-dropping and obscure references, all for the sake of proving one's street cred. By the end of the review, the critic has become a brainless fan declaring to the…

In his inaugural address, Barack Obama told the American people, "We gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord." The same could be said of the Second Annual Tequila and Mezcal Festival currently going on at the Oyamel Cocina Mexicana in Washington,…

It's rather fitting that even when it comes to selling the "sniper's perch" where Lee Harvey Oswald fired his rifle at President Kennedy, there is confusion over who owns the real perch. Parris Mayhew says he possesses the actual window, removed by his father in 1971 when he owned the Texas…

Ruth Madoff is in the news again. Reuters reports: "The wife of accused Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff pulled $15 million out of a brokerage account only days before her husband was arrested, Massachusetts' top securities regulator said on Wednesday." Earlier, the New York Times reported that…

According to Agence France Presse, an ABBA tribute group called Bjorn Again claims to have recently performed for an exclusive audience that included Russian president Vladimir Putin. One of the singers, Aileen McLaughlin, "described a nine-hour drive through icy countryside to a military-style…

When German architect Mark Aretz planned on renovating a Leipzig apartment building, he knew there was much work to be done. But when he opened the door to one unit, he was completely taken aback. Apparently, no one had lived there since 1988. The former occupant was a 24-year-old on the run from…

Recently the Scrapbook reported the following: To mark the Czech Republic's turn at the rotating European Union presidency, artist David Cerny told officials in Prague he and other artists from the EU would create a sculpture of Europe, in which individual countries would be represented by national…

According to Richard Leiby and DeNeen L. Brown of the Washington Post, "the free mega-concert signaled a departure from the Bush administration's frequent efforts to distance itself from Hollywood." Which makes it sound like Jamie Foxx, Stevie Wonder, Tom Hanks, Jack Black, Usher, Bruce…

Braving a severe economic downturn, celebrity chef Michael Mina opened his first District eatery, Bourbon Steak, at the Georgetown Four Seasons last month. And just last night, I attended the press dinner (thanks to publicist Heather Freeman) in which the kitchen showed off its best offerings-not…

I'm not saying the Washington Post's Eli Saslow is in love with Barack Obama, but with passages like this: "The sun glinted off chiseled pectorals sculpted during four weightlifting sessions each week, and a body toned by regular treadmill runs and basketball games." Well, maybe just a little.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that incoming White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel did in fact have direct talks with Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich about the open Senate seat: "Emanuel talked with the governor in the days following the Nov. 4 election and pressed early on for the appointment…

Washington area readers of the Washington Post might have missed in yesterday's paper a small notice "To Our Readers" informing us that the price of an issue on newsstands and in vending machines will go from 50 cents to 75 cents. This followed Sunday's announcement that the paper will be…

Although it is no surprise conservatives are unhappy with Eric Holder's nomination for attorney general, one interesting dissent comes today from within the ranks. It seems that Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen is still up in arms about the pardon of Marc Rich: Soon after Bill Clinton…

Every year just before Thanksgiving, the Old Ebbitt Grill in Washington holds an "oyster riot"--an event featuring a live band, copious amounts of wine, and a limitless supply of oysters (at last year's riot, 50,000 oysters were devoured in two days). Customers pay $115 a head and many dress up for…

Despite fears of a recession, a drop in consumer spending, and a general onset of malaise, the holiday catalogues keep coming to my door. Take Dean & Deluca, where you can order two 12-ounce Wagyu strips for only $190. Or a generous 8.78 ounces of Calvisius caviar that will only cost you $900. But…

Sir Paul McCartney recently revealed to BBC Radio that his former band kept hidden a song they recorded 40 years ago but that "the time has come for it to get its moment." For Beatles aficionados, could there be anything more exciting? Entitled "Carnival of Light," the track runs approximately 14…

I still can't believe I missed this concert. As the Washington Post's J. Freedom du Lac reports: The iconic folk singer Joan Baez opened her Wednesday night concert at the Birchmere with a civil rights anthem that suddenly sounded celebratory: "We Shall Overcome," the old protest song whose message…

As Senator John McCain ended his poignant concession speech last night and slowly walked off the stage, was anyone else reminded of the movie Crimson Tide? If so, it's because the music for McCain's exit was actually taken from the submarine thriller (composed by Hans Zimmer). After the final…

Chuck Schumer defends the Fairness Doctrine because he thinks that regulating talk radio is just like regulating pornography: Jonah Goldberg writes that this is one of the single dumbest things he's ever heard a politician say.

A Washington Post/ABC News poll indicates only 9 percent of likely voters consider Iraq to be a main concern. As the Post explains in today's editorial, "Simply put, the situation in Iraq has been transformed in the past two years, and voters recognize it.... The irony is that the reversal of…

Not that this is news to conservatives, but it's still worth reading Howard Kurtz's column in today's Washington Post, in which he states, "If anyone doubts there is a liberal entertainment establishment, it has been vividly on display" during this presidential campaign. Kurtz then compares Obama's…

I'm sure the thought has crossed your mind: What happens if, just if, Obama loses? It is certainly something that has haunted überfeminist Erica Jong. In an interview in Corriere della Sera, and as noted in the New York Observer, Jong's fear is that "if Obama loses it will spark the second…

Funny how no one is talking about the election being bought by rich Republicans. That's probably because John McCain is not the candidate who has raised more than $600 million this year. That would be Barack Obama, who is now planning a final blitz, including a 30-minute infomercial on major…

Haider-385_418724a.jpg

Jen Rubin sees a glimmer of hope for conservatives: It is a tough time for many conservatives. But here is a bit of cheery news: Colorado's Amendment 46, which like the successful Michigan Civil Rights Initiative in 2006, would ban use of race and gender preferences in government contracting,…

thumbDi_petzner20081#178609.jpg Following the recent death of Jörg Haider (pictured right), Austria's most famous far-right politician since, well, anyway, the new head of the Alliance for Austria's Future says he no longer wants to be seen as a "bad guy." And indeed, seen here on the left, Stefan…

Champagne, France

The Hamburger:

It is generally understood that Roseanne Barr gave the worst rendition of the "Star-Spangled Banned" in television history. But at last night's Monday Night Football game, I'd say Kat Deluna comes a very close second.

YOU MIGHT HAVE heard that September is National Preparedness Month. Or that it is National Cholesterol Education Month. But did you know it is also, for the first time, National Tortilla Month? In a member's resolution, California representative Devin Nunes states, "I would like to recognize…

I can't believe there is any concern at all that tonight's NFL opener will somehow detract from viewership of John McCain's nomination acceptance speech at the convention. After all, kickoff is at 7:07pm EST and McCain will probably appear around the 10pm mark. This would put the Redskins-Giants…

With all the excitement in Denver, Dayton, and, soon, the Twin Cities, you might have forgotten to take your dose of propaganda and revisionism for the week. I'm talking, of course, about the advertising supplement known as Russia: Beyond the Headlines in the Washington Post. (As it turns out,…

Another piece of evidence that the "Troopergate" scandal is trumped up: The Anchorage Daily News reports "For the record, no one ever said fire Wooten. Not the governor. Not Todd. Not any of the other staff," Monegan said Friday from Portland.

One video that's been receiving much play lately is Suzanne Malveaux's CNN interview of an upset Clinton supporter following the former first lady's speech last night. Not to get all Ghost Hunters about it, but did anyone else wonder what happened at the tail-end of that interview? The distraught…

Was anyone else distracted by last night's not-so-jumbotron? It's one thing to have Michelle and the girls look up to see their father on the big screen, just as Nancy once did, waving to Ron. But the eye-level image of Barack talking with his wife and daughters made me think of those memory…

"Here's the leader of the Chinese team, at the age of 20, Cheng Fei. She is one of the many who has been taken away from her family-not screaming and yelling out the door-but from the age of 3, and they may see their parents once a year. At one point she called her parents, said she wanted to come…

Could there have been a better line in today's Washington Post op-ed section than from George F. Will's column? On ABC's "This Week," Richardson, auditioning to be Barack Obama's running mate, disqualified himself. Clinging to the Obama campaign's talking points like a drunk to a lamppost,…

German authorities in Berlin are downplaying an incident earlier today in which a man drove his car through the security perimeter of the Siegessäule (Victory Column) where Barack Obama is scheduled to speak tomorrow. Reuters quotes police spokesman Bernhard Schodrowski as saying, "We don't yet…

German authorities in Berlin are downplaying an incident earlier today in which a man drove his car through the security perimeter of the Siegessäule (Victory Column) where Barack Obama is scheduled to speak tomorrow. Reuters quotes police spokesman Bernhard Schodrowski as saying, "We don't yet…

We now know where Senator Barack Obama will be speaking in Berlin next Thursday. My source told me last night (and it has already been mentioned in Politico) that it will be at the Siegessäule (the Triumphal Column) on the Street of the 17th of June (Strasse des 17. Juni). Dedicated to Prussia's…

Though the Obama campaign has kept the location of their candidate's Berlin speech under wraps, I hear that it will no longer be at the Gendarmenmarkt. One German journalist tells me the Obama camp has narrowed it down to two or three spots: one is the square in front of the Reichstag, a stone's…

A German journalist tells me Senator Barack Obama is now looking to speak at the Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin. Previously there had been rumors as to where the Democratic candidate would address his Teutonic fans. Perhaps at the Branderburg Gate where Reagan told Mr. Gorbachev to "tear down this wall"?…

scarlett-johansson-2.jpg

According to Politico, Senator Barack Obama will mention "Google" three times in a speech in Michigan today. Why? Writes Jonathan Martin, "Last week, discussing how easy it is to find information on people these days, [Senator John] McCain said, ‘You know, basically it's a Google.' He meant to…

Jeffrey Ressner of the Politico reports that actress Scarlett Johansson has a crush on Senator Barack Obama. "My heart belongs to Barack," she is quoted as saying. After the last ABC debate, the star of Lost in Translation emailed the candidate, praising him for his performance. Believe it or not,…

According to the Associated Press, "McDonald's said Monday it has stopped serving sliced tomatoes in its U.S. restaurants over concerns about salmonella food poisoning linked to some uncooked varieties." Hold on a second. There were tomatoes at McDonald's? I think the last time I had a tomato at…

According to Agence Free Press: Toilet troubles on the International Space Station (ISS) could force Russian cosmonauts to return to Earth early, a Russian official told Interfax news agency Tuesday. "It's true, we have a problem with the flushing system. This is a serious matter," warned Vladimir…

It's not often people have anything nice to say about their department of motor vehicles. On The Simpsons, sisters Patty and Selma, who both work at Springfield's DMV, tell their nephew Bart that some days they don't let the line move at all. "We call those days weekdays."

BEFORE YOU SEND ME IRATE emails, allow me preface this by stating how thoroughly I enjoy the Indiana Jones films, most notably Raiders of the Lost Ark. But at the end of the day, does our beloved archaeologist actually "save the day"? Does he truly prevent the armies of darkness from taking over…

Sunday night, in advance of the theatrical release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the Sci Fi Channel aired its special, Mystery of the Crystal Skulls, hosted by NBC's Lester Holt. Not knowing much about this occult subject (unlike, say, Big Foot or the Amityville Horror), I…

According to the Financial Times, "Lycos Europe, a vestige of one of the first internet search engines, is touting itself as a possible acquisition target for a US media or telecoms group seeking scale in Europe's fragmented online markets." Note to the company that buys Lycos: I just found an…

Philip Bobbitt, author of The Shield of Achilles, has just written a new book, Terror and Consent: The Wars for the Twenty-First Century. In it, he talks of the need to rethink our approach to the war on terror, our concept of conventional warfare, and our understanding of victory (i.e., the Geneva…

According to Nedra Pickler of the Associated Press, despite the recent controversy over Barack Obama's former pastor Jeremiah Wright, the Illinois senator continues to gain on Senator Clinton in the super-delegate count. At the moment, Obama has 243 while Clinton has 263. But overall, Obama leads…

Do you find yourself somehow inexplicably drawn to CNN's coverage of the primaries? I do, but for months I didn't know precisely why. There was something so comforting about the format, something so familiar. Then it dawned on me: The studio set-up, the double panel of guests, the host going to…

According to plan, the Bertelsmann Foundation has landed in Washington and has partially taken over the ninth floor of an ultramodern office building in the heart of downtown. It's actually hard to explain the precise location of the foundation. It is technically on I Street, NW, but Mapquest will…

jimbeam.jpg

A good way to measure how far apart the Americans (particularly the current administration) and the Europeans are these days is by reading Helmut Schmidt's "twelve questions for the candidates" in the current Atlantic Times. The former German chancellor simply wants to know where the contenders…

According to A.J. Liebling, "the primary requisite for writing well about food is a good appetite. Without this, it is impossible to accumulate, within the allotted span, enough experience of eating to have anything worth setting down. Each day brings only two opportunities for field work, and they…

Food for thought: We've all heard before that senators don't make good presidential candidates. Think Kerry, Dole, and McGovern (not to mention those who didn't make it past the primaries like Joe Biden, Ted Kennedy, John Glenn). Governors tend to do much better (Bush, Clinton, Reagan). In fact, as…

Food for thought: We've all heard before that senators don't make good presidential candidates. Think Kerry, Dole, and McGovern (not to mention those who didn't make it past the primaries like Joe Biden, Ted Kennedy, John Glenn). Governors tend to do much better (Bush, Clinton, Reagan). In fact, as…

At a lunch yesterday sponsored by the Hoover Institution, bestselling author and Emmy winner Shelby Steele talked about his latest book, A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can't Win. When it comes to relations with whites, according to Steele, blacks can either be "bargainers"…

At a lunch yesterday sponsored by the Hoover Institution, bestselling author and Emmy winner Shelby Steele talked about his latest book, A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can't Win. When it comes to relations with whites, according to Steele, blacks can either be "bargainers"…

BEGINNING THIS WEEK at the Smithsonian and elsewhere around the country, the biggest band in the world can now be seen in 3-D. At a screening last week, I took in the experience, known as U23D, at the National Museum of Natural History's IMAX theater, with a screen height of more than 60 feet.

In the current New Republic, the editors have this to say about Mitt Romney: "He's unbearably unctuous - the Arnold Horseshack of the race, furiously waving his hand to grab the teacher's attention." An intriguing reference to the suckup student on one of my favorite sitcoms from the 1970s, Welcome…

In the current New Republic, the editors have this to say about Mitt Romney: "He's unbearably unctuous - the Arnold Horseshack of the race, furiously waving his hand to grab the teacher's attention." An intriguing reference to the suckup student on one of my favorite sitcoms from the 1970s, Welcome…

Since we moved into our home last year, a secret has resided in our basement. It is a blue and black steamer trunk, and I'd never gotten around to opening it, for two reasons. One, there's a lock and no key. I've picked a few locks in my time (two, to be precise, and they were on luggage), but this…

Louisville men's basketball coach Rick Pitino is in a state about the new schedule for the Big East conference, which forces his team to play Georgetown and Marquette twice and away games at Pittsburgh and Connecticut. When asked by the Washington Post's Camille Powell about his feelings toward Big…

Louisville men's basketball coach Rick Pitino is in a state about the new schedule for the Big East conference, which forces his team to play Georgetown and Marquette twice and away games at Pittsburgh and Connecticut. When asked by the Washington Post's Camille Powell about his feelings toward Big…

Before we get carried away with exactly how much money Hollywoood has given to the Democratic presidential candidates, it also should be noted that H-wood gives to Republican contenders as well. Actors Kelsey Grammer and Adam Sandler have donated to the Giuliani campaign and Robert Duvall has…

Before we get carried away with exactly how much money Hollywoood has given to the Democratic presidential candidates, it also should be noted that H-wood gives to Republican contenders as well. Actors Kelsey Grammer and Adam Sandler have donated to the Giuliani campaign and Robert Duvall has…

Earlier today, Arab scholar Fouad Ajami spoke in very candid terms about the situation in Iraq, which he's visited eight times. He is also one of the few Westerners to meet with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. The lunch, sponsored by the Hoover Institution, allowed members of the media, including the…

Every now and then, when I pause to reflect on our ever-changing world, I wonder whatever happened to Bigfoot. Weren't we supposed to have found him by now? A television series from the late 1970s claimed that man's continual expansion into the wilderness would eventually bring us face to face with…

Alyssa Milano2.jpg

It's not even 2008, but for John McCain's presidential campaign, you get the sense that it's already the fourth quarter. McCain is near the endzone but time is running out. Can he make it to overtime or will the senator get sacked at the one yard line? Why all the football metaphors? It must be…

It's not even 2008, but for John McCain's presidential campaign, you get the sense that it's already the fourth quarter. McCain is near the endzone but time is running out. Can he make it to overtime or will the senator get sacked at the one yard line? Why all the football metaphors? It must be…

At almost any given hour on any given day, a food show is being aired on your television. It could be a reality-based series in which very qualified executive and sous-chefs compete for $100,000, or a reality-based series in which mildly talented cooks vie for the prize of their own cooking show,…

So my colleague Mike Goldfarb calls me this afternoon and the first thing he asks is what do I make of Carmela Soprano reading Rebel-in-Chief by THE WEEKLY STANDARD's own Fred Barnes. I warned him not to read too much into this--some of us are still trying to understand the deeper significance of…

Finally joining the high-definition television community, I've come to enjoy several channels in HD, including HBO, ESPN, Discovery, and National Geographic. Not that everything in HD is ideal, mind you. (Here, I am thinking of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Joakim Noah, and anything on Cinemax…

THANKS TO THE kind folks at HBO, I was able to get a sneak peek at the first two episodes of The Sopranos' final season. By the end of the second episode, "Stage 5," I could hardly believe what had transpired. Who would have guessed that Tony would cooperate with the feds after the untimely death…

IF FRED THOMPSON were to become our next president, what would he be like? Where would he stand on the issues? Although the former Tennessee senator has yet to declare, support for a Thompson candidacy is steadily growing. The Draft Fred Thompson President '08 website (fred08.com) is already up and…

A coworker once gave me a cartoon featuring two guys at a bar, one saying to the other: "When I was a child, I drank like a child, but when I became a man I put away childish drinks."

If you think the first videogame ever made was Pong in 1972, guess again. If you think it was Spacewar!, a 1962 concoction of the MIT Tech Model Railroad Club, you are also wrong. The answer is Tennis for Two, designed by William A. Higinbotham, a physicist at the Brookhaven National Laboratory on…

RELATIVELY SPEAKING, Saddam got off easy. The execution of the former Iraqi dictator was carried out with little fanfare. He was defiant to the end, saying, "Iraq without me is nothing," though he did look frightened. He refused a hood, which was then wrapped around his neck like a scarf. There…

In 1926, the Michelin guide to restaurants began using star ratings to separate exceptional eateries from the mediocre. That system is still in use today. One star merits a drop-in, provided it is on your way. Two stars, according to the guide, denotes "excellent cooking and worth a detour." And…

Putting Meat on the

THOSE OF US WHO ENJOY a thick, juicy steak know full well how it got to our plate. We know that at some point in time, a cow was fed, then slaughtered, and finally shipped to our local grocer or restaurant. But how often do we think about the process by which that cow is turned into a steak or…

AFTER GERMANY'S election debacle in September 2005, when none of the major parties had enough support to govern alone or with a junior partner, the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats agreed to work together for only the second time in postwar history. That such a Grand Coalition occurs rarely…

FIRST CAME THE INFORMALITIES: After spending some 30 minutes alone with Germany's new chancellor Angela Merkel last January, President Bush announced to a delegation that from now on, "I'm George and she's Angela." Then came more hugs and kisses in Washington this past May and, two weeks ago, in…

Standing by the baggage carousel at Dulles airport the other week, I started to get that sinking feeling. Only a few pieces of luggage remained unclaimed. The passengers I recognized from my flight had disappeared. New people stood next to me, but eventually they, too, left. Then the carousel…

AS A RECENT COLLEGE GRADUATE, I had the typical young-male fantasy of what my first adult residence should be like. But even I knew that living upstairs from a bar could have lethal consequences. So I decided my first apartment should merely be located near a good bar, within walking (or crawling)…

WHEN WATCHING Baghdad ER, it is important to remind yourself that it's been worse. For every soldier instantly killed in combat during the Civil War, two died in the hospital from battlefield injuries. It is also important to put into perspective the number of fatalities suffered by the United…

LAST WEEK I CAUGHT UP with my old college housemates. It had been several months since I'd spoken with them, and, as it turns out, much is going on in their lives. One is dating a girl he plans to marry. The wife of another is about to give birth to their second child. And a third just got engaged…

THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE has given millions of dollars to a company you've never heard of in order to fund something called Project M, whose aim is "The Use of Modern Sensing and Actuation Technologies Coupled With High Speed Processing to Control Complex Dynamic Systems." In English, this means…

THE PLAN WAS THIS: When the visiting German delegation arrived at the White House on January 13, Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Bush would spend the first 30 minutes alone, sans interpreter, in the Oval Office. "Her English is just okay," said one European diplomat. Afterward, the remaining…

NEXT WEEK, Angela Merkel arrives in Washington to meet with President Bush for the first time in her new role as chancellor of Germany. As the Atlantic Times put it, she is "the most powerful woman in the German-speaking region since Maria Theresa (1717-1780)." The visit is long overdue.

YEARS AGO I WAS UTTERLY despondent over the state of American cuisine. A diet frenzy gripped the nation. Supermarket aisles were chock-full of low-fat variants of all that was good and pure--namely, foods made with butter. But then the pendulum began to swing, thanks in part to the late Dr. Robert…

THESE ARE HISTORIC TIMES FOR Germany. Angela Merkel is set to become the nation's first female chancellor. She'll also be the first chancellor from the former East Germany. So how excited are her constituents? "She's a cold fish," says one of her fellow Christian Democrats (who asked to remain…

Berlin

Berlin

Bonn

Bonn

YEARS AGO, A SCIENTIFIC study of the Eskimos of Greenland concluded that a diet rich in fish oils could help reduce the risk of heart disease. This, in turn, led to a surge in demand for fatty fish like wild salmon. It's a shame scientists haven't done a separate study on the people of the…

FRIEDBERT PFLÜGER COULD BARELY CONTAIN himself. It was last April when I asked the foreign policy spokesman for Germany's Christian Democratic/Christian Social Union opposition alliance about elections taking place the following month in North Rhine-Westphalia. "The Social Democrats have governed…

HERE ARE A FEW THOUGHTS to ponder regarding Germany's descent into political kaos:

I RECENTLY ADMITTED TO MY wife that I'm battling an addiction. The terrible irony of it is that she was the one who put me in temptation's path. Ever since she introduced me to Sid Meier, I've been hooked on Civilization, a computer game he created in 1991.

ACCORDING TO WELL-PLACED German sources, the rumors swirling around foreign minister Joschka Fischer are true. He has, in fact, gained a lot of weight. "Have you seen him lately?" asked one German politician. "He is huge!"

IMAGINE WHAT A FILM about the fall of Berlin would look like if it were produced by Roland Emmerich (Godzilla) and directed by Michael Bay (Armageddon). Maybe Liv Tyler could play the secretary, Traudl Junge. Ben Affleck could be SS doctor Ernst-Günther Schenck, trying to save the lives of hundreds…

THERE'S SOMETHING ALLURING about flying in a private jet, even if you're sitting backwards, crammed alongside other reporters. Maybe it's because you walk directly onto the tarmac, up the stairs to the Lear, no lines and no need to remove your shoes. Maybe it's the leather chairs and wood paneling.…

REALITY SHOWS regularly feature contestants eating maggots, swimming with snakes, and jumping off cliffs. But none has ended in people tearing one another apart, limb from limb, the victors feasting on the flesh of the losers. This might happen next season but in the meantime, there's the National…

IT WAS ONCE BELIEVED that the rise of television would lead to the demise of radio. True, you no longer see families gathered around an oversized wood-paneled box, eagerly awaiting the next episode of Amos 'n' Andy. (And a good thing too.) But radio nevertheless survived, and even thrived, by…

YOU MIGHT THINK with more electoral votes than Wisconsin, Iowa, or Missouri, and with local polls showing the president narrowly trailing his Democratic opponent, that New Jersey would by now have played host to both George W. Bush and John Kerry. In fact, neither man has stumped there, or even…

AS FAR BACK as I can remember, I always wondered why there was no remastered DVD of Goodfellas. It was bad enough knowing there exists a special edition of The Godfather Part III. And yet the only version available of Martin Scorsese's mob masterpiece was a disc so primitive you had to flip it over…

Las Vegas, Saturday afternoon

EVERY TIME I pass my lefty neighbors' car, there seems to be a new bumper sticker plastered on the back of it. There are anti-Bush slogans like "Hail to the Thief," "The Emperor Has No Brains," "John Ashcroft: The Best Attorney General the NRA Can Buy," and "Dump Dubya," as well as "Boycott Kraft"…

ASK ANYONE not from New Jersey what they know about the state, and you're bound to hear of the Sopranos, the Turnpike (what exit?), and pollution. Listen to anyone from New Jersey and you will hear the same response: There's more to it than that. Why, there are the over one million acres of natural…

IN GOLF, there are two chronic afflictions. One is the yips and the other the shanks. I occasionally suffer from the latter when the extreme heel of my club sends the ball off on a 90 degree angle, placing whoever is standing to the right of me in jeopardy. My father recently escaped one of my…

THERE'S NO QUESTIONING the importance of covering the passing of Ronald Reagan--a man whose impact on America and the world was profound. Plus it's been more than 30 years since the capital has seen a presidential funeral. But such historic moments have a habit of overshadowing news that, under…

IT'S BEEN MORE THAN A WEEK since the election for president of the Philippines was held and the results are nowhere near official. Not that anyone has demanded a recount (yet) or there's any dispute over chads. And it's not because the courts have intervened. In fact, this waiting game is perfectly…

THERE'S NO QUESTION that America is getting fatter by the day. According to the Centers for Disease Control, next to smoking, poor diet and physical inactivity are the leading causes of preventable death in this country. Two out of three adults and 37 percent of children are considered to be…

APRIL 24 WAS WITHOUT DOUBT the closest the island of Cyprus has come to being one nation in the last thirty years. Turkish and Greek Cypriots voted on a proposal by U.N. secretary general Kofi Annan designed to reunify the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (recognized only by Turkey) with the rest…

JUST WHEN MCDONALD'S finally gets its act together--its stock price went from $16 to $30 and same-store sales experienced positive earnings for 11 consecutive months--the man responsible for the miraculous turnaround, 60-year-old CEO Jim Cantalupo, died of an apparent and sudden heart attack on…

A BLOCK FROM MY APARTMENT BUILDING in northwest Washington, there was a McDonald's restaurant that catered to the elderly, a few homeless, and tourists from the nearby zoo. The wait was long and the service slow. There might have been only two or three employees in the kitchen putting all the…

"Terrorism is a propagandistic stereotype and nothing else. . . . 'Terrorists' are what Goebbels called the Russian partisans and the French resistance. . . . 'Terrorists' are what one calls the Iranians who fight against an authoritarian regime in Iran, the Vietnamese who fought against the French…

JUST STOP. IT'S OVER. FORGET ABOUT IT. There's always next year. For college basketball fanatics, today is when it all ends. The beauty of your brackets marred by upsets or upsets that never happened. Will Mississippi State beat Duke? Probably. Georgia Tech over Kentucky? Maybe. Connecticut over…

THESE DAYS IT IS HARD TO TELL that Berlin was a divided city. There's hardly a trace of the Wall left, save for a block strip. On Potsdamer Platz, once known as a no-man's-land with concrete barriers and barbed wire, there's a Starbucks, McDonald's, and an Eddie Bauer. In the heart of the platz is…

EVERY SO OFTEN, an item on a menu that has been a constant for years will suddenly vanish. You might still be able to order it by special request, but sooner or later you will ask yourself, Whatever happened to the Waldorf salad? What happened is it became extinct. In "Kitchen Confidential," chef…

SAY THIS about John Kerry: At least his grandfather wasn't a Nazi. For all the oppo research that will be done on him, having a Fascist relative is something that probably won't come up. Which is not the case for some politicians in Germany, where 60 years later, questions about a family's past…

EVERY SO OFTEN I engage in an exercise in futility known as The Search for New Eyeglasses. It's not that I'm picky or that I have a hard-to-fill prescription. Rather, I just can't seem to find a pair that fits. Even before resting the glasses on my nose, I'll notice myself stretching the frame to…

LAST MONTH two American brothers, Michael Ray Stubbs, 55, and Jamil Daud Mujahid, 56, were arrested by Philippine authorities just south of Manila in the town of Tanza. Philippine Naval intelligence had been tracking their movements and allegedly caught the two interacting with "known leaders of…

Berlin

LITTLE MENTIONED in recent reports on the war on terror were the arrests last September of two men linked to al Qaeda. What makes these arrests particularly interesting is that they happened in Mindanao, an island in the southern Philippines. Jasem Alhasan, a Kuwaiti, was detained along with a…

"WE'VE COME TO RUSSIA'S CAPITAL CITY to stop the war or die here for Allah. . . . I swear to Allah, we desire death more than you want life." These words, spoken by Chechen terrorist Movsar Barayev, open "Terror in Moscow," a grim and stomach-churning look at the Moscow theater hostage crisis of…

NEITHER SNOW NOR RAIN nor heat nor gloom of a hurricane can keep me away from a press breakfast at the Ritz-Carlton. And so it was, on the morning of the day Hurricane Isabel was poised to strike our nation's capital, that I found myself alone in an oak-paneled room waiting to meet Wolfgang…

IT WAS A YEAR AGO this month that North Korea, in the midst of normalization talks with Japan, dropped a major bombshell: During the late 1970s, North Korean agents infiltrated Japan's west coast and abducted 11 men and women--though Kim Jong Il claims he knew nothing about it at the time. "I…

Scottsdale, Arizona

[img caption="It is unclear who David Hasselhoff and K.I.T.T. wil be endorsing." float="right" width="446" height="599" render="<%photoRenderType%>"]8837[/img]

IT'S BEEN OVER A YEAR since my last trip to Sin City, which featured high-stakes blackjack, Wayne Newton, and a bachelor party for a friend who later broke off his engagement (what a deal for him!). But it's been an even longer spell since my last visit to that shining city by the sea known as…

GIVE THE UNITED STATES military some credit. After wiping out Saddam Hussein's sons, Uday and Qusay, with a barrage of small-arms fire and TOW missiles, they not only put their bodies on display--they made them look presentable (after those initial photos that could have appeared in Fangoria). No,…

A FEW WEEKS AGO, in between segments about a robot that helps dig through rubble and a mosquito-zapper made by a high schooler at a science fair, CNN's Fredricka Whitfield had this tidbit to offer: "An Australian inventor has come up with a gun that fires a million rounds per minute. It's called…

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT, last week was "Transatlantic Week," in which several conferences devoted to U.S.-European relations occurred simultaneously. The Washington Post's David Ignatius covered one in Berlin where the presence of Richard Perle, aka The Prince of Darkness, probably led some to…

WHILE DOZENS of world leaders have come to Washington to meet President Bush, only three have been accorded all the ruffles and flourishes of an official state visit--Mexico's Vicente Fox, Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland, and, just last week, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of the Philippines. Besides the…

NOT THAT WE BASE OUR IMPRESSIONS on life in a German POW camp entirely on "Hogan's Heroes," but there is an understanding that life in a stalag wasn't nearly as bad as life, say, under the Japanese. Roughly 4 percent of Americans died in German and Italian camps while a staggering 27 percent died…

IT CAME AS A SURPRISE to many when the U.S. postwar plans for Iraq were finally revealed. Like Gaul, Iraq would be divided into three parts: an American zone, a British zone, and a Polish zone. But what role did Poland play during the war? It turns out a very important one--albeit one that was kept…

THE FIRST LEG of my trip to Costa Rica was exactly as I'd envisioned it: I ate a hearty breakfast of bacon, eggs, and gallo pinto (black beans and rice), followed by nine holes of golf at one of the premier courses in Central America. My friends and I then lunched poolside and returned to the…

SO WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? I'm not talking about the future of Iraqi democracy, the state of Iraq's economy, or who will be its next leader. But rather, what happens to the old leader and the 54 other thugs now listed on a deck of cards to assist coalition troops in the manhunt? Where do they go, what…

YOU WOULDN'T WANT to be a defender of Saddam's regime right about now. Not only is the country teeming with coalition regulars, but also a vast and deadly array of the world's elite special forces. We're not just talking about the Green Berets. There's the Delta Force, Navy SEALs, and the…

"THE HISTORY OF WAR proves that nine out of ten times an army has been destroyed because its supply lines have been cut off." General Douglas MacArthur said this in 1950 before his landing at Inchon during the Korean War. It's a thought that is definitely on the minds of Tommy Franks, Richard…

"I SHOULD HAVE KILLED HIM when I had the chance. Now I'm f--d!" said the man as he was driven away in a squad car. He used to spend his mornings at a methadone clinic, but not any more. Not after being charged with stabbing a man in the thigh. He claims the reason he was carrying a knife in his…

TERUAKI MASUMOTO is a 48-year-old tuna department manager at the Tohto Suisan Company in Tokyo, Japan. He's soft-spoken and was a bit weary-eyed from traveling when I met him in Washington last week. For more than 20 years, Masumoto has had to live without knowing what happened to his sister the…

CALL IT wishful thinking (or the fact that I attended the school), but I was sort of hoping that the Georgetown Hoyas would do to Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, and Syracuse what they did to a foreign team in an exhibition game last November. Back then, the mighty Hoyas crushed Latvia Select like the Red…

AS MARK THOMPSON of Time magazine writes, "Every war has its wonder weapon." And in an upcoming war against Iraq, we are told to "get ready to meet the high-power microwave." The way Thompson describes it, the "HPM" sounds almost too good to be true: They "fry the sophisticated computers and…

[img nocaption float="right" width="738" height="377" render="<%photoRenderType%>"]8834[/img] WITH NORTH KOREA AND IRAQ dominating the headlines, you might have missed the news from Cyprus. Now before you hit that back button let me explain why this matters, and not just to Greeks and Turks.

LAST WEEK, my favorite ailing team, the Washington Redskins, finally defeated the Dallas Cowboys, their most hated rival in the NFC. Not that you can call it a rivalry--Dallas had beaten the Redskins ten times in a row over the last five years. But still there was much to celebrate. Retiring…

THE FIRST THING you need to remember when going into a Martin Scorsese film is that it'll probably be long. Get food and drink. Go to the bathroom. Wear comfortable clothing. In fact, the last movie Scorsese made under 2 hours was released in 1986 ("The Color of Money," at 119 minutes). Ever since…

THREE YEARS AGO, I wrote in this space about a post-Thanksgiving football game my high school friends and I play every year. I bragged about how we ruthlessly tackled each other to the ground without any padding or protection, and scoffed at the idea of one day switching to two-hand touch or even…

MARVEL COMICS IS ON A ROLL. First there was the blockbuster "X-Men" movie that generated almost $300 million worldwide. Then came "Spider-Man," which grossed more than $800 million. Coming in February, Ben Affleck will star in "Daredevil." In that same month, Marvel will be bringing back to comic…

THERE ARE MANY REASONS to be mad at fast food giant McDonald's. For starters, there was the decision, in the early 90s, to switch from deep frying its french fries in tasty beef tallow to 100 percent vegetable oil (something I've lamented before). Then there was the more recent switch from its…

YOU REMEMBER HIM for a sleazy character he played on screen. Or the street tough with the wise-ass attitude. Or the weasel you never trusted. He's always "that guy."

EXACTLY TWENTY YEARS AGO, Frank Lautenberg first ran for public office. He was a sprightly 58 at the time, a successful businessman who came to the rescue of a Democratic party whose senior senator was embroiled in controversy and forced to step down. Back then, it was Senator Harrison Williams's…

THERE WAS A GENUINE Kodak moment last week in Game 3 of the World Series. Baseball great Willie Mays threw out the opening pitch to Barry Bonds. What made it so special was that Mays is Bonds's godfather. It made me feel warm and fuzzy inside, seeing them play catch together and afterwards fondly…

BEFORE I EVEN BEGIN my review, let me preface it by saying there's no way I can avoid the occasional use of explicit sexual language that may make some readers uncomfortable or upset. "Auto Focus" is, after all, about Bob Crane, and it doesn't exactly focus on the man's acting career, but rather on…

MAYBE it's all Christie Whitman's fault. After all, it was under her stewardship as governor of New Jersey that the idea of a state poet laureate was first hatched. But how could she have known in April 2000 that the innocuous role of poet laureate would fall under intense scrutiny? Back then, the…

I REMEMBER the last election party I attended, two years ago. It was at the home of a colleague. When news came that Florida went to Gore, I knew it was over and asked the host (a serious mixologist) to fix me one of his classic martinis. But suddenly, news came that Florida had swung back to Bush.…

EVER WONDER what happens to a zoo during a war? Probably not, which makes National Geographic Channel's "Kabul Zoo Rescue" so intriguing. Media coverage of a war tends to focus, naturally, on human suffering. But it doesn't make the plight of animals--especially those in cages who depend on humans…

LAST SUNDAY on "Meet the Press," as Vice President Dick Cheney answered Tim Russert's questions about Iraq, Halliburton, and his political future, one thing was mentioned that deserves further exploration:

LAST JUNE, I wrote about how it seemed wrong for Paul McCartney to perform Beatles songs in concert. Herewith are a few reader responses, clarifications, and an update.

WHY DO WE want to scare ourselves? Why do we drag ourselves to a theater, first wanting to be frightened, and then acting as if someone had kidnapped us, strapped us in, and forced our eyelids open, a la "Clockwork Orange"? It's strange that the definition of "entertainment" includes being…

ITALIAN-AMERICANS are speaking out. They are complaining about a stereotype they just can't stand. One that they find inaccurate and misleading. One that is constantly shown on television, much to their disgust. They are unhappy. They are at their wit's end. They are fed up.

LAST APRIL I was going to write a story about German defense minister Rudolf Scharping after hearing him speak at the New Atlantic Initiative here in Washington. Scharping, a former chairman of the SPD (the German Socialist party), talked about the war against terrorism, cooperation between the…

BACK IN THE '70s and '80s, the only thing that could stop me from eating those delicious McDonald's french fries was the Hamburglar (while his accomplice Grimace was out stealing shakes). But in the early '90s, health concerns led to a switch from frying with hearty beef tallow to vegetable oil,…

THURSDAY, JUNE 20--It is National Day at the embassy of Luxembourg. I wouldn't miss it for the world. For those of you who may not know, Luxembourg is a country less than a thousand square miles in area (slightly smaller than Rhode Island) with a population of roughly 440,000. It's wedged in…

THE MOST MEMORABLE SCENE in "Goodfellas" is the brutal killing of Billy Batts. It starts in 1970 at the Suite Nite Club where Batts, a "made" guy in the Gambino family, is celebrating his return from prison. Everyone seems to be having a grand time when Tommy DeVito struts in with his girl. DeVito…

Nuremberg The Reckoning by William F. Buckley Jr. Harcourt, 366 pp., $25 William F. Buckley Jr. A Bibliography edited by William F. Meehan III ISI, 250 pp., $29.95 EVEN THE NAME of Nuremberg has a frightening ring. The medieval city was home to princes, painters, and the Meistersingers. But in the…

TOPPING OFF FESTIVITIES at Buckingham Palace this past weekend in celebration of Queen Elizabeth II's fifty years on the throne was a rock 'n' roll extravaganza featuring the likes of Ozzy Osbourne, Phil Collins, Rod Stewart, Ricky Martin, and Aretha Franklin, just to name a few. But no doubt the…

ONE REASON to visit Las Vegas: cheap tables. At dozens of casinos on and off the Strip you can find blackjack with $5 minimums. At Casino Royale (which looks nothing like the casino in the movie), there are even dollar tables. More astounding, there are a few casinos like the Rio that offer $5…

RADEK SIKORSKI, the former deputy foreign minister of Poland and now head of the New Atlantic Initiative, recently pointed out to me that "there are no more contentious subjects in the world than the Middle East, Kashmir, Northern Ireland, and Cyprus." Unfortunately, he told me too late.

I'M ABOUT to make a stereotypical remark, so bear with me: I was running late to a press breakfast yesterday morning--by five minutes. Normally, this isn't a big deal since there's a ten minute lag time for late-comers and media-types who love gabbing in the foyers before getting dragged into a…

IT ALL STARTED with an invitation to a dinner at the home of the Cypriot ambassador. It's not everyday one gets to go to an ambassador's house, so how could I refuse? Of course, I'm not one to pass up on fine dining no matter where or for what reason. In fact, I supped at the Iraqi mission last…

FOR THE PAST FEW YEARS, there's been talk in Germany about merging the state of Brandenburg with the city-state of Berlin (imagine a merging of Maryland and the District of Columbia, but not as bad). Most estimates expect the "fusion" of the two entities to take place by 2006. It's a reasonable…

SIX YEARS AGO, I lamented the fact that, because of the pressures exerted by the dieting community, McDonald's had changed the recipe for its apple pie. What once was a deep-fried, golden crust containing generous chunks of apple in a molten-hot, syrupy sweet filling became a dried-up, baked casket…

A GOOD BARBER is hard to find. Sometimes when you do find the right guy, one of you ends up moving away. Other times, you decide the person just isn't that good and so you look for someone new. This is where it gets tricky. When you get your hair cut by the same person every few weeks, you don't…

LAST NOVEMBER, during the heady days of Operation Enduring Freedom, the U.S. military dropped a 15,000-pound bomb known as a Daisy Cutter on Taliban positions in Afghanistan. The bomb flattened everything in sight for roughly 600 yards. But while the Daisy Cutter's blast occurred above ground,…

A CONSTANT WORRY about American forces overseas is that we will overstay our welcome, that the host country will tire of us, that eventually, with enough protests and demonstrations and effigies burned, we will be forced out. It's happened plenty of times in countries from Europe to the Middle East…

"DISGUSTING." "Obscene." "Gross." Those are just a few words people have used to describe "Glutton Bowl #1: The World's Greatest Eating Competition," which aired on Fox last Thursday. Contestants were challenged to eat bowls of mayonnaise, sticks of butter, and "Rocky Mountain Oysters," and the…

TRAUDL JUNGE had a solid resume. She was a journalist at Quick magazine, a freelance writer and editor, and even a technical adviser for a movie. But most of all, she was a secretary with almost superhuman skills at typing and dictation. And she was very good at following orders--a boss's dream…

THERE WAS a time once when I wouldn't miss an Arnold Schwarzenegger film for all the world. I loved his narrow escapes from the jaws of death: diving into a pool as flames chased after him, or jumping out of a plane and pulling the ripcord at the very last second. I loved his self-deprecation. But…

IN A STUNNING article in the Washington Post magazine entitled "Bust and Boom," Matt Brzezinski reports on a terrorist plot in the Philippines that was foiled by Manila police in January 1995. Authorities had been notified about a fire alarm going off in an apartment complex and decided to check it…

THERE ARE a great many obvious reasons to be thankful the president is alive and well and not another victim of death-by-choking. But one lesser reason to rejoice is that, had things taken a turn for the worse, we would never have heard the end of it from conspiracy buffs. Think about it. Even with…

WHILE MANY OF US were enjoying our Christmas turkeys and toasting the New Year, two Americans spent the holidays deep in the jungles of the Philippines, their bodies malnourished, their mouths covered with sores, on the verge of mental breakdown, and led around on leashes by terrorists. It is now…

WHEN I LAST reported on the Gurkhas, the elite Nepalese warriors in the service of the British army, there was much anticipation that they would be unleashed on the Taliban. After all, about 150 Gurkhas happened to be in nearby Oman performing joint military exercises at the time of the September…

FOR THE LAST FEW WEEKS, the Philippine military has intensified its campaign against Abu Sayyaf, the Islamic separatist group holding three hostages, two of them American, deep in the jungles of Basilan island. There are currently 7,000 soldiers on Basilan, roughly 600 miles south of Manila, and…

IF YOU'RE WONDERING just how cool "Ocean's Eleven," Warner Brothers' remake of the 1960 Rat Pack film, is, simply go to their website. Everything you need to know before watching the movie (or writing a review) can be found here. You can spend hours going through videos, trailers, interviews, and…

LAST MAY IN THE PHILIPPINES, a terrorist group with links to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network abducted 20 people from a hotel resort on Palawan island. Three of them were Americans. In June, one of the Americans, Guillermo Sobero of California, was blindfolded and led away with his hands tied.…

YESTERDAY MORNING on the island of Jolo in the southern Philippines, 200 Muslim separatists laid siege to an army outpost. The attackers, however, were not part of Abu Sayyaf, the terrorist group currently holding two Americans hostage. They were supporters of the much larger Moro National…

THIS PAST WEEK during a massive nighttime aerial bombardment near Kabul, the Al Jazeera network caught on video an enormous, fiery-red mushroom cloud with flames reaching 1,000 feet into the air.

WITH ANTI-TALIBAN FORCES still unable to rally behind one leader, the death of Ahmed Shah Massoud becomes all the more lamentable. Massoud, known as the Lion of the Panjshir, headed the Northern Alliance until his murder nearly two months ago. By now, the Alliance and its struggle against the…

BY NOW YOU HAVE PROBABLY HEARD the e-mail hoax about the Arab who warned his girlfriend not to be in New York on September 11 and not to be in a mall on Halloween. You've heard about the thousands of Jews who did not show up to work at the World Trade Center on the day of the attacks (thus pointing…

FOR THE PAST FEW MONTHS, the British army and navy have been conducting joint exercises in the sultanate of Oman. The operation is called Swift Sword II, and by happy coincidence, it happens to put 23,000 British soldiers in the vicinity of Afghanistan. Many of them are now expecting to take part…

OCTOBER 9, 2001, is a day many Americans are waiting for with bated breath. No, it isn't the date for an attack against Afghanistan (some of us hope that would come sooner). It is, instead, the DVD release of one of the greatest movies of all time: The Godfather Part II. (Oh, the joy of finding an…

Last week, I was on assignment in Berlin, courtesy of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. I'd agreed to write a piece on Berlin ten years after the fall of communism, a serious investigation into the identity crisis Berliners are suffering as they enter the 21st century.

Most people's idea of getting away from it all is to vacation on some Caribbean island, go on a cruise, get a tan. But my favorite getaway is upstate New York in the bitter cold of December. In Schoharie County, way up in the Catskill Mountains, sits a log cabin my friend Steve's grandfather built…

THE SAGA OF ELIAN GONZALEZ has been a gripping one for everyone, it would seem, except members of the press. They have almost universally loathed the story, reserving special contempt for Cuban-Americans. Thomas Friedman, for one, could barely contain himself last week. In fact, he didn't: "Yup, I…

THE AGE WHEN politicians and journalists publicly denounced entire ethnic groups as "a bunch of wackos" or "crazies" or possessing a "mob" mentality is long gone, right? Not if the group in question is Cuban-Americans. It's been open season on Cuban-Americans ever since they took the lead in trying…

For most people, New Year's and birthdays are the annual events that remind us we're getting older. Another year, another birthday. But for me, that prompting comes in the form of football. Not the kind you watch, the kind you play.

The end of the century has been a good thing for the publishing industry. Indeed, 1999 could be called the Year of Lists, bombarding us with catalogues of the century's best books, best movies, best advertisements, and so on -- and on and on.

A journalist once asked Helmut Kohl if he ever spent sleepless nights thinking about history, and the German chancellor responded, "When I get up at night, I'm not thinking about history, but about plundering the refrigerator." At six feet four and over three hundred pounds, he gave an answer that…

All military buffs start innocently enough. Once upon a time, for instance, there was a boy who loved toy sailboats:

At Bar Betico Mata in Turrialba, the beer is cheap, the cuisine is hearty, and the service is congenial. But I don't think they take American Express. Actually, I don't think they take Visa either. They might not even take U.S. dollars. At Bar Betico Mata, you won't find too many people speaking…

When people from my state are asked where we're from, we always answer, "Jersey." A cab driver once tried to pin me down on this. Bostonians, Chicagoans, and New Yorkers all name their city proudly, he said, even if they're really from Brookline or Libertyville or Westchester Country. What's wrong…

When it comes to American Catholics now in their twenties and thirties, the words "well grounded in the faith" do not spring immediately to mind. We are, for the most part, an astonishingly undereducated generation, calling ourselves Catholic -- or "culturally Catholic," or "raised Catholic," or…

Alexandra Richie