Several years ago, at the opening dinner of a sculptor friend’s debut 2-person show, I found myself playing the oh-so-sophisticated New York collector at a giant round table in a Chinese restaurant for a mix of folks, including the other artist’s parents.
I offhandedly pronounced Minneapolis to be the most Canadian of American cities: not just because of the freakin’ weather, but because of public radio. First, there’s Garrison Keillor, and besides, everyone–including every immigrant taxi driver I met–listened to public radio.
Well, the other artist’s mother said, we’re from Minneapolis. Apparently, calling a Minnesotan Canadian is almost as bad as calling a Quebecker Canadian, except the Minnesotans are too nice to say anything; they just keep it all inside. And of course, they’re so hardy, they didn’t need a jacket for the chill that blew over the table. My recovery attempt–“I meant Canadian in a good way. As It Happens is one of my favorite CBC shows!”–was unwelcome, and the table split into two conversational crescents for the rest of the night.
Anyway, I was reminded of this this morning when Rex pointed out that “Live in Canada” is one of Minneapolissers Minneapolitans’ most popular goals. [of course, since in the two days since he posted it, it’s dropped from #11 to #18, so they must still be very self-conscious about it.]
[update: and they’re quick to correct. I didn’t really think it was Minneapolisser, but I figured–rightly–that someone’d clue me in real fast. Thanks, Jason.]
Category: etc.
Read What I Read, Not What I Write
Poss. alt. title: greg.org reads the NYT to you.
I’m a kottke.org micropatron. Are you?
I Dare You
How New York is still Scorsese-town
“The city belongs to the hoodlums, the pimps, and the hookers. Bickle starts hoping that ‘some day a real rain will come and wash all the scum off the streets.'” [via]
Tourists marveled at the multicolored glass skyscraper, but also gawked as evidence technicians took measurements and snapped photographs of the crime scene… “They might have cleaned up some of Times Square,” said Jason Fallon, who picks up trash for the Times Square Business Improvement District. “But when I get to work at 6 in the morning, it’s still all pimps and hookers and hoodlums.”
– “Old Times Square Surfaces in Brawl on Eighth Avenue”, NY Times
Gangs Of New York gets new release date, Dec. 20 (Miramax prexy Weinstein blinks: “The Souvenir November 2001 debut on the 19th made us nervous.”)