Underground Dragon linked to The Marmaduke Project, which tries to make the comic strip funny by altering it (executive summary : only putting in completely new captions seems to work). In a coincidence that simply cannot be explained, I came across the Joe Mathlete Explains Today's Marmaduke blog, which is marvelous, because all these years I thought Marmaduke wasn't funny, but when it's explained to me, it's batshit hilarious.

There was a program on the Food Network this weekend that was about Paula Deen's culinary travels in Europe with her mute boyfriend/husband.

Paula Deen ordered a sandwich. The sandwich consisted of bread, butter, and french fries.

My iPod broke. Again. My last one puttered out after 2 years and 3 months. This one lasted a whopping one year and three months. Apple has officially made the crappiest product ever that I can't live without.

It's amazing how the weather in NYC today is almost exactly the same as it was five years ago this very day. Beautiful, sunny, with that chill in the air foreboding the end of the summer, sweaty August mornings becoming a distant memory.

I can remember everything that happened around me that day. I remember the look on the guy's face that let me in the office once I got out of the elevator. I remember seeing so many of my co-workers in a different light. I remember how my breakfast tasted, and how I didn't eat it until after noon, at which time I devoured it nervously. I remember not knowing what to do, at all. I remember every single stop the subway made on the way home. I still become extremely angry when I see a sign, a TV spot, or a T-shirt with the words "we shall never forget."

For five years I've regretted not sending a note to my partner before I left work that day, in case I didn't make it home. I should have sent him a note telling him how much he's meant to me, how relieved I was that he was safe, and how I couldn't wait to get home to him. How could I have forgotten to do something so important?

New favorite TV Chef: Daisy Martinez. (not to be confused with Daisy Fuentes)

She shows you how to make real authentic latin cuisine, and after watching only three episodes I've been exposed to so much that I would never have seen on the Food Network. Her show is also on PBS-HD, so the food looks really good, too.

OK, next we need a TV show devoted to Indian cooking.

Here's a great article about a bar closing. Well, of course, it's about more than that, although there's an important point that's not lingered upon for too long - does a crackdown on nightlife truly improve the "quality of life" of the general population? And why does the city that never sleeps suddenly treat bars and clubs as a nuissance? You don't make friends and have hilarious discussions with random strangers at banks or Jamba Juice.

Lessons learned from the MTV Video Music Awards:

-Jared Leto is in a rock band? And they're, like, emo? And he wears eye-liner?
-All rock stars wear eye-liner now?
-People actually like Panic! At the Disco?
-How did Justin Timberlake suddenly become the savior of pop music? His new stuff is amazing.
-Jack Black isn't funny after all.
-Sarah Silverman is.
-When all is said and done, MTV tries way too hard to be hip and relevant.