A Week of Gluttony

Each year DC plays host to the greatest event known to people of discerning taste - Restaurant Week. From August 1 through August 7, the most praised restaurants (deservedly or not) in the District of Columbia offer three-course prix-fixee dinners and lunches for $30 or $20, respectively. The American Polis salivates from the mere thought of such a great opportunity and directs readers to OpenTable to reserve their seats. While certain restaurants on the list of participants bear little more than a passing glance, others are must-visits this year. TAP suggests Bistro Bis, Galileo, TenPenh, and Cafe Atlantico as perennial favorites for either their cuisine superbe or their inventiveness.

While DC is well known for its wood-paneled steak caves like Charlie Palmer, Caucus Room, or the other usual suspects, these are not the places you should take advantage of during this week of joy. If the Hill rats or lobbyists frequent an establishment, you can take that to the bank as a sign not of haute cuisine, but rather of undeserved pretense. The who's who of DC may have have a little depth of pocket, but they often lack the taste that God gave a Holstein. While the American Polis loves being surrounded by the well-to-do and the people of good breeding, TAP does not wish to do so on its own dime when the culinary rewards are minimal.

The American Polis will be reviewing the restaurants it visits this year, so look forward to scathing, yet revealing commentary to come. TAP hopes others will join.

Family Guy, figurines, and more

Nothing screams quality television like cartoon characters that dress like prostitutes and have been translated into plastic figurines. For once, The American Polis is not being sarcastic. Family Guy is unquestionably the most insightful observer of American popular culture and its failings, and the apparent availability of the afore-mentioned figurines on amazon.com only furthers TAP's belief that we should supplant that Sesame Street drivel with more "smart" shows like Family Guy to stretch the minds of tomorrow's leaders. When jokes about matricide and dogs drinking martinis finally take their place ahead of a show brought to you by the letter "z," then, and only then, can Americans hope to be prepared for a new century of descending to previously unthinkable smart lows. Despite the threat of tawdriness, The American Polis still TIVOs every episode.

Update: Yes, TAP changed the photo with this entry since apparently the photograph of a "Peter Griffin callgirl" figurine was not easy to identify as such for readers. The American Polis hopes all is now clear.

Even TAP sports a Gmail account

TAP is not alone in its fear of Google. What will become of all of the world's knowledge?

TAP--in its own head, around the coffee table at one of its dwellings--has oft discussed this question. When will they sell our knowledge back to us, and how much will it cost?

How much is our data worth? It is the sum of our culture--or is it?

Who can? The ICANN can.

That's right webjunkies - The American Polis is pleased be part of spreading the incredible news that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (affectionately known as ICANN) has decided to approve the creation and use of the new domain ".mobi." When this news crossed the wires, TAP sighed loudly in relief at the end of our long national suffering. And for those not techno-savvy enough to figure it out, this new domain is apparently designed for the exclusive use of sites for mobile devices, such as cell phones and PDAs. The internet has now realized its full potential. Thank heavens.

Our friends in Luxembourg have decided that .com, .net, .org, .edu, .biz, .bs, .whothehellcares, and on and on were insufficient to cover the needs of the internet surfing world. While TAP couldn't point out Luxembourg on a map, and frankly doubts that such a country exists (TAP thinks Luxembourg is a euphemism for "some weirdo 12 year old's basement" since that seems the most likely birth place of website addresses), let us thank ICANN for their ingenuity. They have gone further than ever thought possible in making the internet more annoying than ever. The TAP wonders what was wrong with just a couple of domains? Seriously, we all know that if you have a .biz address (or now .mobi) that your website is about as credible as Doris Kearns Goodwin's footnoting (ooh snap, TAP went there). If you had a real website it would be a ".com" - you ".mobi" clowns ain't foolin no one.

The American Polis tips its cap to ICANN. Keep up the good work.

Adventure in the workplace

TAP admits that no matter how interesting one finds one's employment, great joy comes from anything out of the ordinary--such as the use of the tank-tread, remote controlled stump remover going on outside one's window.

What does workplace boredom cost American business?

(TAP notes that in the time it has taken to post, a three-foot diameter stump has been reduced to mulch by the stump cutting device.)

O'Connor and Rehnquist

Does it strike anyone else as strange that Sandra D's retirement announcement from SCOTUS was characterized by the media as some detached historical affair, devoid of any real humanity. TAP argues that the influence of Justice O'Connor was borne from her deeply personal relationship with the cases that came before the court. Justice Scalia's postion is either a foregone conclusion, or at least highly predictable, due to his commitment to a grand unifying theory of law; however, O'Connor's devotion to the particularities of each case is more humane in a way. Her decision process seems to mirror the stuggles that the proletariat face each day, where the luxury of theory gives way to the reality of actualization. How fitting that the decisive vote for so many cases of late would be from a woman for whom the academic elitism of the left and right held little sway. The way she frustrated the opposing poles of our political world was fascinating to watch, since she was neither to the right nor to the left. However, the main frustration for commentators and the pundits was that she was also not a centrist or a moderate. O'Connor was unbound by the imaginary code that demands allegiance to either loose or strict constructionism, but she did not try to split the difference either. The worst thing for the court is the presence of moderates - they are destructive to the process since they hold forth opinions that always favor the tyrannical majority. Why was the deeply individualistic and personal voting of O'Connor obfuscated in favor of an incorrect characterization of her as a moderate? Either it is simply because most people are too ignorant to understand, or because the media craves a two-front war of ideology over the future of America, where you ar either with us or against us. The American Polis in unsure.

On the breaking news front, The American Polis sees strong indications that Chief Justice Rehnquist will announce his retirement late Tuesday afternoon, or early Wednesday morning this week. So if you like common wisdom before it becomes common, then if TAP is right, you heard it here first. If TAP is wrong, then you heard this somewhere else.

Bush vs. Sartre

While recently trolling for thoughtful commentary on world affairs, The American Polis stumbled upon an interesting, albeit obviously unsubstantial, take on President Bush's paraphrased appropriation of Camus. The piece is written by a gentleman who writes under the name Sartre, who must surely have an inferiority complex, since another far more famous existentialist already owns the rights to that name (wait, TAP now gets the gag. Oh, Sartre. You wit.) TAP appreciates an effort to engage an existential critique of Bush policies, but TAP also wonders where we go from there. In the absence of solutions, to point out problems, while legitimate, seems a parlor game. Although The American Polis does love Glenlivet (splash of water, si'l vous plait) and a rousing game of whist.

http://existentialist.blogspot.com/2005/05/choice-for-political-freedom.html

Wendy's and "gourmet" in same post

The American Polis is always wishing that people took food a little more seriously, or at least seriously enough to write songs about it. Amateur Gourmet has few witty songs composed in reverence to cuisine. Indeed you must listen to the "Wendy's - I told you lies" song. Foodies are an often misunderstood crowd, and Amateur Gourmet makes them palatable (TAP applauds its own pun).

Inaugural Post

The American Polis will begin in earnest on or before August 1, 2005. This blog will engage in the conceit of speaking of itself in the third person, in similar style to the periodically annoying, yet always fascinating Note which daily speaks in the royal "we." For example, a typical post might read "The American Polis is unimpressed by the powder blue color scheme of the G8 summit press room." Additionally, The American Polis shall operate under the acronym TAP, to save precious keystrokes from the overworked hands of underworked minds.

Invited and or begged individuals will post news, commentary, and other detritus for the comment of the world. However, as perspective for potential posters and readers, The American Polis notes that in keeping with its mission, the postings will be on ideas and events in the public sphere. In other words, a recent personal, yet frustrating experience with TIVO would only be grounds for a post if there are larger implications for all who read.

TAP understands that truth - and interesting falsehoods - may emerge from all people, from all ideologies, and from all parts of the world. However, TAP believes in good taste and as such will enforce it. While some students of philosophy-lite may criticize good taste as merely a societal or linguistic construct of control and begin blathering on about Derida, nonetheless good taste shall reign.

In closing, while this entire effort may be in vain, or perhaps sheer vanity, The American Polis hopes that it will provide amusement, edification, and consternation to many on issues including politics, art, culture, leisure, literature, religion, technology, and philosophy. In short, The American Polis shall strive for humanity.