Comment on blogs and blogging.

Michael Gartenberg of Jupiter Media says in http://www.technewsworld.com/story/Microsoft-Clears-Space-for-Bloggers-38606.html (a story on why Microsoft's release of MSN Spaces is no big deal):

"'Web logs as an activity require diligence and commitment and a burning desire to say something and tell it to the world. That's why it's just not a mainstream activity,' he said.

"'Most people don't create content, they consume content, and we have a word for them: consumers. Far more people want to read others' content than create their own.'"

I don't disagree with Gartenberg--either about the release of MSN Spaces essentially being a non-event, or that most people are consumers--but I never particularly thought of blogging as requiring much diligence or commitment.

I'm just somewhat surprised that blogging is characterized as something requiring anything but the ability to froth at the keyboard. Always seemed to me to be a pretty low bar.

After all, isn't there the stereotype of "some blogger in pajamas" floating around; that doesn't strike me as the image of someone particularly diligent or committed.

Yes, yes, Thanksgiving was a week ago, I know.

We're still eating leftover turkey, though, so I'm posting. Besides, monkeygod hasn't posted yet about the dinner we all had on Friday night, so I have no photos to grab and post here.

Anyway, Thursday bedfull_o_books and I went to her family homestead and had a traditional Thanksgiving turkey feast, with a large bird, an intriguing stuffing--what was in that, btw?--mashed potatoes, sweet potato, turnips, cranberry sauce, cranberry chutney, and broccoli rabe. Quite tasty, and if I hadn't been recovering from the 24 hour stomach bug that appears to have gone around, I'd have eaten a lot more of it. But bedfull_o_books's Mom helpfully prescribed and provided some fresh ginger which helped a great deal. Thanks much for that, and for the wonderful dinner!

Friday, a crowd of us went over to the Junction for Sam and MC's Thanksgiving bash. Beef short ribs and roast duck were the centerpieces. They did a fantastic job. (Clearly planning that we'd all have seen plenty of turkey, they chose their entrees wisely.) There are plenty of pictures of the food and of us all, but as I said before I don't have them yet. Dinner was excellent, and there was much good cheer. In fact, the liquid component of "good cheer" averaged more than a bottle of wine and spirits per person, which by any reasonable standard is plenty.

Saturday, we went down to Connecticut for Dave and Lynne's annual Thanksgiving turkey and lasagna party; the usual crowd of friends from high school attended. There was a largish bird, which fed several dozen, along with three trays of lasagna--one each of spinach, ground beef, and sausage--and much catching up, as I hadn't attended in a couple of years. The food was mighty fine, as was the company.

So, three days of feasting. More than usual for me. I'm still recovering (and eating leftovers).

Have You Eaten Yet?: The Chinese Restaurant in America

It wasn't until a couple of months after reading the article the New York Times did about the exhibition on its opening that we finally made it down to see it. It was small but intriguing.

Have You Eaten Yet?: The Chinese Restaurant in America
Opening Reception: September 14, 2004, 6:00 pm - 8:00pm; Runs through June 2005.

Museum of Chinese in the Americas
70 Mulberry St., 2nd Floor (in Chinatown)
New York, NY 10013
(212)619-4785
email: info@moca-nyc.org
http://www.moca-nyc.org
Tuesday - Thursday : 12:00 - 6:00
Friday : 12:00 - 7:00 (with free admission all day)
Saturday - Sunday : 12:00 - 6:00

Suggested Admission:
$3 Adults
$1 Seniors/Students with I.D.
Free for members and children under 12

I'd never even known there was a Museum of Chinese in the Americas, much less that it was in the former PS 23 on Mulberry St., on the corner of Bayard, in the heart of Manhattan Chinatown. But there it was, tucked into a few rooms on the second floor, with arts spaces around it.
The major exhibition, "Have You Eaten Yet?" fit into a hallway and a smallish room, with menus from restaurants and reminiscences from people who'd worked in them. There were many displays, including one on Kosher Chinese Restaurants, and on American "Chinese" foods, both canned--mostly from the 1960s--and from recipe books dating back to the 1920s. I learned a lot about the history of Chinese restaurants in America. There was even a bit on who General Tso was and how, while he's remembered in Sichuan province as a famous general, no one knows about the dish named for him here in the States.

One really impressive bit is that many of the items on display came from the collection of one man, Harley Spiller. Apparently his Upper East Side apartment is full of quirky collections like restaurant menus.

In the entry hallway there's an exhibit of photographs of "Chop suey houses" in the Pacific Northwest called, appropriately enough, "Chop Suey", which is on through the end of this month. I'm completely unfamiliar with that particular restaurant scene, but the photos of the flamboyant neon signs were eyecatching.

Afterwards, bedfull_o_books said she had to have Chinese food. This was an easy craving to satisfy nearby.