Links for Lunch

A new feature in which I recommend the work and websites of people who buy me lunch. Today’s entry: Scott Jonas!

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Today we have a virtual lunch: Scott Jonas sent me a picture, a link, a donation, and instructions to enjoy some “killer spanikopita” and “minty tabouleh”. Simple, right? Ah, but where to get good spanikopita and tabouleh together in New York? I went as far as joining and querying Chowhound, which wasn’t of much use. In our fair City, Greek is Greek and Lebanese is Lebanese and never the twain shall met (unlike San Francisco – Oh La Mediterranee, how I miss thee!). In the face of such a challenge I opted to go for the killer spanikopita alone – from Poseidon Greek Bakery, right in my ‘hood. I figured Scott wouldn’t mind takeout for lunch, eaten on the fold-out table between the postage-stamp-sized “kitchen” and the bed in my one-person studio, since he wasn’t there. As for the link, Scott writes:

I’m afraid that the planet is going to hell and the best we can do is to slow the descent. But because I don’t believe in giving up without a fight I’d like to put in a plug for Wildlands Restoration Volunteers (www.wlrv.org) in Boulder, CO. They do good work, and — this is key — they feed their volunteers well.


The remainder of his donation will pay for even more spanikopita as I continue work on Sita Sings the Blues. Thanks, Scott!

Would YOU like to be featured in Links for Lunch? Then buy me lunch. My email address is at the bottom of the middle column, the one with the pictures linking to my movies and cartoons and stuff.

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Virtual Lunch

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I recently heard from Stephen Wells, the Executive Director of the Animal Legal Defense Fund. Being on opposite coasts we can’t have lunch, but I want to endorse the ALDF anyway. Go ALDF!

Although I don’t eat meat, I’m exasperated by the suggestion that vegetarianism is effective action against animal abuse. It isn’t. Just like human abuse, the only way animal abuse is going to get curbed is by passing and enforcing laws against it. That’s what the Animal Legal Defense Fund is working toward. Something else Mike Caprio and I briefly discussed at our Eats for Endorsement, is that carnivores and omnivores can support legal reform against animal abuse too! In fact most carnivores I know are opposed to factory farming; they likes their meat, but they don’t want it to be low-quality crap flooding the markets here and abroad. Veganism is great, but not eating animals doesn’t save an animal’s life; it just means more cheap meat gets exported as domestic “farming” subsidies create “surplus.” That’s not just bad for animals, it’s bad for the humans whose markets our cheap meat floods into. So come on, everyone: carnivores, vegans, omnivores, pescatarians, vegetarians, flexitarians, live-food fruitarians, breatharians, aryans and barbarians: support the Animal Legal Defense Fund!

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Eats for Endoresement

A new feature in which I recommend the work and websites of people who buy me dinner. Today’s entry: Mike Caprio!

Mike Caprio

Mike Caprio is the Bon Vivant of Brooklyn. But he’s no slouch in Manhattan either, since he suggested our Eats take place at Casellula. There we discussed the importance of combining the flavors of the accouterements plated with the cheese, whether my dislike of booze and grapefruit could be due to supertasting, geeks we know in common, why Denmark is cool, and of course my favorite subject, how the world is going to Hell in a handbasket. Clearly, the man is an expert on food, entertainment, and enjoying life’s pleasures before we’re all plunged into an apocalyptic dystopia. Be sure to check out his blog!

Would YOU like to be featured in Eats for Endorsement? Then buy me dinner. My email address is at the bottom of the middle column, the one with the pictures linking to my movies and cartoons and stuff.

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“Nothing New”

Sita Sings the Blues was recently rejected for a small government grant. Their review comments included “not engaging,” “nothing new,” “doesn’t speak to artistic growth and development” and “pretty but not groundbreaking.” At first I didn’t fully understand, but then today I learned a film exactly like mine has been done before:

Look at the similarities: the story is told from a white Western female perspective, it uses animation, and it only discusses Rama and Sita, omitting Laxman. Not only that, it was made by four-to-six-year-olds, which explains why the organization also called my project “standard” and “too easy.” I wish I’d known about this before I tried to “reinvent the wheel.” (via waiting for kalki)

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