FIFTYFIVEHUNDRED.ORG
Original Since 1976

30 Jul 2010

Enormous congratulations to Chelsea and Marc for seeing off an audacious headline grab by the Palin family, in the form of young Bristol’s shock engagement to her babyfather, Levi Johnston. While Hillary’s daughter remains an exemplary shunner of the limelight, Sarah’s eldest recently announced her engagement on the cover of a celebrity magazine. So heartlandy! “It felt right,” Bristol said, “even though we don’t have the support of our parents.” For now, the Chelsea and Marc show has obliterated the young pretenders, though let’s not forget that the course of red state romance never did run smooth. If Bristol and Levi should embark on a Badlands-style spree tomorrow, they could still take this fight.

Lost in Showbiz: Clinton wedding extravaganza special!

Chelsea v Bristol in an old-school claymation Celebrity Deathmatch would be kind of amazing. (Though I suppose it’d be Sarah turning up with a shotgun to settle it, and that would be bad.)

27 Jul 2010
26 Jul 2010
25 Jul 2010

Though Chief Justice Roberts gets all the attention, Justice Alito may thus be the lasting triumph of the administration of President George W. Bush. He thrust Justice Kennedy to the court’s center and has reshaped the future of American law.

New York Times: Court Under Roberts Is Most Conservative in Decades

TRIUMPH.

+
It turns out there’s a beautiful garden next to the Thames flood barrier. Its hedges are sculpted into waves, and they provide a river of vegetation, between which amblers can go on secluded strolls and amongst which are beds of a huge variety of flowers. You can hardly imagine the area gets very crowded at its busiest times, and it was nearly deserted yesterday evening.
Samuel Johnson is famous for his aphorism, ‘when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life’. There’s a lot of truth to that, I think, but what underpins it is London’s constant ability to surprise. Given that I’ll own some small part of it as of Tuesday, I hope I never get tired of being surprised.

It turns out there’s a beautiful garden next to the Thames flood barrier. Its hedges are sculpted into waves, and they provide a river of vegetation, between which amblers can go on secluded strolls and amongst which are beds of a huge variety of flowers. You can hardly imagine the area gets very crowded at its busiest times, and it was nearly deserted yesterday evening.

Samuel Johnson is famous for his aphorism, ‘when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life’. There’s a lot of truth to that, I think, but what underpins it is London’s constant ability to surprise. Given that I’ll own some small part of it as of Tuesday, I hope I never get tired of being surprised.

23 Jul 2010
22 Jul 2010

…the idea that any of us can control our reputations is, of course, an unrealistic fantasy. The truth is we can’t possibly control what others say or know or think about us in a world of Facebook and Google, nor can we realistically demand that others give us the deference and respect to which we think we’re entitled. On the Internet, it turns out, we’re not entitled to demand any particular respect at all, and if others don’t have the empathy necessary to forgive our missteps, or the attention spans necessary to judge us in context, there’s nothing we can do about it.

The Web Means the End of Forgetting - NYTimes.com

Boo-ya!

21 Jul 2010
Cameron gives Obama graffiti artist’s work - Telegraph
Mixed feelings about this, at best.

Cameron gives Obama graffiti artist’s work - Telegraph

Mixed feelings about this, at best.

12 Jul 2010

Sex Dream

distorte:

I’m on the bus home from a local nightclub with Lindsey Lohan. It’s very late. The bus is almost empty but for me and Lindsey Lohan. She’s dressed in the same outfit as from recent pictures of a recent trial. I’m trying to convince her to come home with me so we can have sex. The home is my parents’ house. Buses home from nightclubs is a hometown thing. Lindsey is distracted but friendly. She is a good looking girl at five in the morning. We get off at the church and she comes walking up the town with me. She makes me stop while she goes into Tesco’s and she doesn’t come out for a long time. It’s getting bright out. Time is passing too quickly. I’m vaguely worrying that my parents’ house is full of extended family and it might be awkward to bring a famous person home to have sex there. Eventually we get back and she’s eating crisps in the kitchen while I rifle through the presses looking for something to drink. My mam and my aunt walk into the room. We cook breakfast while Lindsey Lohan talks about her problems. She really sounds like she just needs someone to talk to. Mam starts mentioning colleges as the sun comes round to the window. The whole thing is a fucking disaster.

The Cold Inclusive does Dublin. With a bonus pun at the end.

This is what the internet is about, people.

11 Jul 2010
Alice Neel, in front of her portrait of Andy Warhol (Fred W McDarrah/Getty Images)

Alice Neel, in front of her portrait of Andy Warhol (Fred W McDarrah/Getty Images)

older