Julia J.'s Profile

The best professional reviews of top restaurants - Michelin, the venerable European restaurant guide, has recently come under considerable criticism for being elitist, snobby, and just plain wrong. Much of this criticism was directed at its first guides to America and Japan. I cannot vouch for its Japanese guide (although my Japanese friends do not believe European Michelin critics sufficiently appreciate the intricacies of Japanese food, which I could believe) but I have found its US guide to be excellent.

Not everyone likes critical reviews - <a href="http://zagat.com&quot; target="_blank">Zagat</a> and <a href="http://yelp.com&quot; target="_blank">Yelp</a> have become quite popular. But I find those guides to be too noisy. It's hard to tell which reviews you can trust (even when aggregated). But I do feel like I can trust Michelin. My primary experience has been in the South of France, <a href="http://www.michelinguide.com/us/stars_nyc_09.html&quot; target="_blank">New York</a> and <a href="http://www.michelinguide.com/us/09_sf_stars.html&quot; target="_blank">San Francisco</a>, but all the 1 and 2 star restaurants I have been to have been amazing experiences. I would highly recommend the Michelin Guide to anyone who is serious about dining out (it's a great gift idea too =)

The Daily Beast is hit or miss - Former Vanity Fair and New Yorker editor <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tina_Brown&quot; target="_blank">Tina Brown</a> started <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/&quot; target="_blank">Daily Beast</a>, a somewhat self-indulgent collection of original articles and syndicated work which calls itself, "..a speedy, smart edit of the web from the merciless point of view of what interests the editors."

Some of the articles are great. Funny original work like this article on <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2008-10-15/im-in-love-with-david-gergen/&quot; target="_blank">David Gergen</a>. Also, Tina Brown has called in such heavy-weights as the always brilliant <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2008-10-17/quit-helping-small-business/&quot; target="_blank">Michael Kinsley</a>. But for every excellent author, Tina Brown throws in a <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2008-10-15/dear-undecided-voters-make-up-your-freaking-minds/&quot; target="_blank">Randi Zuckerberg</a>, the sister of the founder of Facebook, who is a poor writer and doesn't seem to have much to say of any importance.

So while I might be inclined to follow individual authors, I cannot find a compelling reason to keep coming back to the site. I just don't know what it's for.

Does Fox News make the world worse off...? - I think it might. The argument for <a href="http://foxnews.com&quot; target="_blank">Fox News</a> could be:

(1) it's entertaining
(2) it provides balance to an overly liberal news media

And those points are fair. But I would still suggest Fox News might still make the world worse off. The troubling bit for me is that Fox News presents political opinion as "news." I think poltical opinion is fine but really needs to be presented as such, so viewers are not confused. This is also done to some extent in the <a href="http://nytimes.com&quot; target="_blank">NY Times</a>, or even on <a href="http://npr.org&quot; target="_blank">NPR</a>, but I believe the biasis in their reporting is much less than what is seen on Fox News.  The American people deserve better news coverage than what Fox News offers.

My favorite movie community - I used to have Netflix, and one of my favorite features was Netflix.com where I could write little movie reviews and share them with my friends. But I got too busy and canceled my Netflix account, so I nowhere to write reviews. Then I got spammed by one of my friends on Facebook by some app called Flixster. But I'm a sucker for movies, so I clicked on it, and now I'm hooked. All my movie addicted friends joined too, and now we all share reviews and pictures. It's great. I also like their movie quizzes. My only complaint is that I waste way too much time on this...I think I need help!

A Shakespeare Festival everyone should experience - Situated between tree covered mountains in beautiful southern Oregon, the Oregon Shakespearean Festival is an experience everyone should have. I first went in high school and saw Twelfth Night in the outdoor Elizabethan Theater. I fell in love, and have been back 6 times since. The plays are consistently high quality, but what makes Ashland special is the atmosphere. You feel like you are part of nature. Like this is how life is supposed to be lived. Filled with art, food, wine, and good people. Do not miss this experience. This is a photo of the outdoor theater:

<img src="http://z.about.com/d/gonw/1/5/g/-/-/-/ashland.jpg&quot; alt="" width="400" height="265" />

Political insight or liberal gobbly gook? - I can't tell whether Markos Moulitsas Zuniga's blog is actually filled with insightful analysis of political news or if it's just another partisan rant attempting to gain viewership by saying what people on the far left want to hear. Thoughts?

A side note: I was not particularly impressed with Markos's in interviews: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLzvw45eZUA&quot; target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLzvw45eZUA&lt;/a&gt;

Max Richter composes beautiful music..er, ring tones - Obnoxious ring tones have sadly become a part of life. Max Richter aims to change all that. Here on his site you can listen to music composed specifically for your cell phone ring tone. The surprising bit is, it's really good.

On the website you can view postcard images while you listen to each ring tone - the combination is beautiful and evocative. These ring tones are already on sale in Europe, but are not available in North America until September 23rd.

It's an amazing thing when a utilitarian object as a cellular phone becomes a medium for real art. Let's hope we see more of this.

Paris Review for author interviews and young poets - Made famous by its famous founders (including George Plympton) and its fabulous author interviews: <a href="http://www.theparisreview.com/literature.php&quot; target="_blank">http://www.theparisreview.com/literature.php&lt;/a&gt; the Paris Review remains a great literary magazine and source for fresh new writing from people you have never heard of.

The website offers an amazing "audio" section: <a href="http://www.theparisreview.com/audio.php&quot; target="_blank">http://www.theparisreview.com/audio.php&lt;/a&gt;

More about the magazine here: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Review&quot; target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Review&lt;/a&gt;

Politico offers an excellent insider's perspective on the political news of the day. I read it as a supplement to the New York Times and the Washington Post, and I check it every day when I wake up to check the political mood of the day.

Sad but beautiful pictures of geeks in costume - Land of the Free - Steve Schofield is a great photographer, and he shows it in his collection entitled "Land of the Free"
<a href="http://www.steveschofield.co.uk/gallery_lotf.html&quot; target="_blank">http://www.steveschofield.co.uk/gallery_lotf.html&lt;/a&gt;

There is a beauty and a sadness in his pictures ...people looking for themselves...filled with loneliness....a portrait of an America that lacks community and purpose.

Any tips on how to get a reservation online at Ko?! - I am in love with David Chang. http://nymag.com/restaurants/features/26568/

And the food at Momofuku Noodle Bar and Ssam Bar is amazing. Anyone have any tips on how to get an online reservation at Ko?!

Tremendous image resource for fine art paintings, but littered with ads - <a href="http://Artchive.com&quot; target="_blank">Artchive.com</a> used to be one of my favorite websites. They have a great image viewing tool that allows you to zoom in on fine details on thousands upon thousands of classic paintings. Also, the written descriptions of artists are quite good. However, the site has sadly become littered with advertisements including pop ups and interstitial page ads. I would gladly pay a few dollars to make these disappear.

My favorite artist of the day - Klimt protege Egon Schiele. Check him out: <a href="http://www.artchive.com/artchive/S/schiele.html&quot; target="_blank">http://www.artchive.com/artchive/S/schiele.html&lt;/a&gt;

A community like no other - My mom used to take me to Rainbow Gatherings when I was a kid, and I loved them. But looking back, they were kind of wild. In this counter-culture gathering in the wilderness (the location always changes) you will find friendly and unusual people. Families, computer programmers, stoned hippies (sometimes naked), wild dancing, and much much more. The Rainbow Gatherings are NOT for everyone, but if you are an unusual person looking for other unusual people, you should check it out.

Wish you could be reading a book instead of working in your cube? - Now you can - and without your boss knowing! Read At Work is an amazing website that simulates windows and powerpoint presentations. The cool thing is, the powerpoints are all classic short stories, poems, novels! So when you're reading Emily $#*!inson your boss will think you're working on that marketing presentation.

Strange but fascinating site on art, the human mind and synesthesia - Synesthesia is a human condition in which parts of the brain are connected in unusual ways, such that one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another, as when the hearing of a sound produces the visualization of a color. Dr. Hugo Heyman, an artist and theorist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Heyrman&quot; target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Heyrman&lt;/a&gt; explores this phenomenon through his website with articles, videos, paintings, and poems. I don't pretend to fully understand the site, but I first discovered it because he posted one of my favorite poems, In Dream by Anna Akhmatova:

<a href="http://www.doctorhugo.org/synaesthesia/anna.html&quot; target="_blank">http://www.doctorhugo.org/synaesthesia/anna.html&lt;/a&gt;

Beautiful and worth your time - Jamie Livingston, a photographer in New York, took a single Polaroid picture each day of his life from the age of 22 in 1979 until the day of his death in 1997, aged 51, from cancer. Some pictures capture his engagement, birthdays. But others are simple. Playing music with friends. Napping. Laughing.

The site is a story of a life. Picture by picture and moment by moment. The quality of the Polaroids evokes sadness and beauty. Jamie's life was beautiful. And you realize how similar his life was to your own.

The internet is an immature medium. Filled with utility but lacking in art and emotion. This simple website has both.

<a href="http://photooftheday.hughcrawford.com/&quot; target="_blank">http://photooftheday.hughcrawford.com/&lt;/a&gt;

Neat way to see crime stats - Other than an assaulted cab driver two weeks ago, my upper east side neighborhood looks safe! I feel like this map might be missing some info....

Calculate your carbon footprint and buy green gadgets - You input how much you drive, fly and spend on energy and then calculate how much CO2 you emit (I emit 50,000 lbs! - eek). It's really interesting to think about. This number also omits thing like how much stuff I buy (bottled water, food, plastic anything, etc.) but it is still scary. The site also allows you to buy carbon offsets that go towards environmentally friendly projects. It's a neat idea, but how do I know my carbon offsets are going to be put to efficient use?

There are also a bunch of neat "green" products that are great gift ideas. My favorite is the solar powered device recharger that works with cell phones, iPods, etc.: <a href="http://www.terrapass.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&amp;Product_Code=USBCELL-AA2&amp;Store_Code=TerraPass&quot; target="_blank">http://www.terrapass.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&amp;Product_Code=USBCELL-AA2&amp;Store_Code=TerraPass&lt;/a&gt;

Good present for a baby shower / baby birthday - Let's face it, baby presents are boring. Everyone buys the same baby clothes, baby shoes, etc etc. But not me - I look smart and buy my friends the Brightening Minds DVD :) The DVD has content to entertain the baby, but it's also got information from doctors on how to make your baby smarter. And, next to having a good-looking kid (bc we're all narcissists :) everyone wants a smarter baby!

And my present looks cool and original compared to the pile of recyclable diapers :P

Everyone still loves Google, but for how long? - I have loved Google since 1999. Google was friendly, well-meaning, and they had a great search product. However, more recently, Google has seemed more and more like a normal, big company. And with each new product they roll out, I feel like Google would like to take over another little part of my life. And to top it off, Google search has not really gotten much better for the past several years. Now, for health, blogs, news, and other topics, I find Google to be inferior to more specific vertical search engines. Unless Google proves me wrong in the near future, I will be looking to diversify my web service consumption elsewhere. Yahoo, anyone?