"The scale, the endurance, the adjectives! The specialized ingredients and gear! Now that men are starting to take over the kitchen, cooking has become a kind of extreme sport, involving wild game and feats of endurance. And like every other specialized hobby, “manly cooking” now has its own magazine."

XX Factor article on the new German Magazine, BEEF: Für Männer mit Geschmack!

"Maestro, should this be red? Yes. Green? No.
More extras? Yes. More lipstick? No.
Yes. No. Yes. No. That's directing."

Judi Dench's character in the trailer for Nine

"Or as my genius friend the textile designer says, she asks on first dates or [when] meeting men in bars, ‘Do you have a passport and a library card?’"

New York Times article on newly released census data on marriage

"I move on to the potatoes. I know I'm in trouble when Julia says that 'the cooking is rather exacting.' 'If you were living in France,' says Julia, 'you would buy smooth oval potatoes 2 to 2 1/2 inches long, with yellowish flesh, pommes de terre de Hollande.' Well, we're none of us in France. So instead I spend the better part of an hour cutting new potatoes into 'elongated olive shapes all the same size.' I 'cut them smoothly, so they will roll around easily and color evenly when they are sauteed.' Julia doesn't mention the bit about the vodka tonic, but I find that it smooths the process a bit."

from The Julie/Julia Project

"I know the bad's gotta fix itself
correct over time
And I know cause I've got the cure,
I've got the cure for your crimes

[...]

I know the world's been mean to you
I've got a cure, hold tight
I know the world's not fair to you
I've got a cure for its crimes"

from the song The Cure by Tegan and Sara

"The name of the author is the first to go

followed obediently by the title, the plot,

the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel

which suddenly becomes one you have never read,

never even heard of,

as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor

decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain,

to a little fishing village where there are no phones."

from the poem Forgetfulness by Billy Collins

"Forget Gum. Walking and Using Phone is Risky."

New York Times headline

"Ich kann Ihnen da ne kleine Anekdote erzählen."

- Referent für Journalistenseminar (ungefähr 10x innerhalb eines Tages)

"It has been quite a journey for Ted Olson. He’s gone from being the conservative lawyer who helped crown W. by winning the Bush v. Gore case before the Supreme Court, to being a lesbian."

Maureen Dowd on the California Prop 8 debate

"Ich will nur so tun, wie als würd´ ich arbeiten, ok?"

- Ilias (Moritz Bleibtreu) in Soul Kitchen

"Opinion is divided on whether winter is getting colder in Delhi or slightly warmer, or whether the cold is lasting longer or ending sooner. But everyone agrees that it persists in showing up. B. P. Yadav, a weather forecaster, said average temperatures in January ranged from lows of 44 degrees to highs of 68 degrees, or sunbathing weather in Finland."

New York Times article on a cold snap in India

"Fernsehen macht dick und ernst."

- eine Kollegin beim Fernsehexperiment im Journalistenseminar

''If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence of trying."

New Year's Resolution

"Take for instance this Web site text advertising the antidepressant Paxil: 'Just as a cake recipe requires you to use flour, sugar and baking powder in the right amounts, your brain needs a fine chemical balance in order to perform at its best.' The Western mind, endlessly analyzed by generations of theorists and researchers, has now been reduced to a batter of chemicals we carry around in the mixing bowl of our skulls."

The Americanization of Mental Illness by Ethan Watters in The New York Times Magazine

"Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

Michael Pollan

"Earlier animated series, notably 'The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show' and 'The Flintstones,' worked on two levels, but 'The Simpsons' works on one more: children, adults, and adults who read a lot."

NYTimes article about the 20th anniversary episode of the Simpson airing Sunday 10.1.10

"Now that we've made it through the experience of the last decade, we can wonder how that experience shaped us."

introduction to a piece on Morning Edition featuring book recommendations from Tina Brown of The Daily Beast

"While no other country saw fit to follow suit, the Georgians were left with huge stockpiles of both superb and, more often, cheap and substandard wine developed specifically for the indiscriminate Russian market."

article on Georgian wine from The Wine Issue of the Travel section of Washingtonpost.com

"Social workers and religious leaders have urged tighter gun laws, more vigilance of Internet sites and more social bonding in this small Nordic nation known for its high suicide rates, heavy drinking and domestic violence."

New York Times coverage of 31.12.09 Espoo shootings