I'm not a big fan of NPR's This I Believe segment. Usually I can't change the channel fast enough. But today, coming back from the grocery store with an incredibly thick new york strip, something was different. The speaker's chosen topic wasn't preachy or sanctimonious, it was... about BBQ!

There Is No Such Thing as Too Much Barbecue

"I believe in barbecue. As soul food and comfort food and health food, as a cuisine of both solace and celebration. When I'm feeling good, I want barbecue. And when I'm feeling bad, I just want barbecue more. I believe in barbecue in all its regional derivations, in its ethnic translations, in forms that range from white-tablecloth presentations of cunningly sauced costillas, to Chinese take-out spareribs that stain your fingers red, to the most authentic product of the tarpaper rib shacks of the Deep South. I believe that like sunshine and great sex, no day is bad that has barbecue in it."

Jason Sheehan, James Beard Award-winning restaurant critic for Denver's Westword newspaper, nailed it, big time. Listen to or read the whole essay here. Unfortunately, NPR doesn't offer podcast versions of these segments, but you can listen via Real or Windows Media.

How it works here. No tables, tons of divs!

Link to Java app here.

This is great news! New Super Mario Bros. has won the FWA Site Of The Day (SOTD) Award for May 25th, 2006.

FWA (Favourite Website Awards) is an industry recognised award program, established in 2000, showcasing websites who use cutting edge technology, together with inspirational ideas, that lead the way for future generations.

Link to the FWA

New Super Mario Bros. Link

This site was a real pleasure to work on (who doesn't love Mario?!?) and I cannot wait to get my very own copy of the game. I played through a few levels (well... OK... almost five of them) for *cough* research purposes and lemme tell ya — I'm going to be playing this nonstop for the next few months.

The site is indeed Flash 8, which gave us outstanding features, file size savings, compression options, and so much more. The ability to replicate Photoshop-style effects directly in Flash with very little overhead is invaluable. All said and done we ended up with a better site that performs extremely well.

BTW, the launch site features a few new videos like "New Enemies" which you need to see... that giant Goomba looks insane! Without a doubt, New Super Mario Bros. is the latest must-have title for Nintendo DS.

Flooding Stars Hollow with troubadours looking for their big break was somewhat annoying, but it was really nice to see Sonic Youth on TV. And it gave Grant-Lee Phillips' town troubadour character a few good lines.

"The big time? I made seven hundred bucks and got booed. And I never even met Neil Young. Heart of Gold — my ass."

I'm going to cut right to the chase here and not mention anything else about the episode... like squirm inducing British accents.

Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon, and the adorable Coco Gordon Moore

Mary Lynn RajSkub (24's Chloe) singing about her lost '89 Volvo

Yo La Tengo

Joe Pernice

Sparks

Dan Palladino — one of the show's creators — singing "A Beaver Ate My Thumb" accompanied by Brian Zydiak and Dave Rygalski

Sam Phillips accompanied by Eric Gorfain

I have no idea who this guy is... do you?

Holy bejeezus, E3 is crazy overwhelming and best of all I got to play Nintendo's Wii console!

That's me looking like an idiot and here's a snap of the new controllers.

Awesome huh? Obviously, Nintendo is the big story today. Everybody's talking about the Wii. Zelda and Red Steel are going to be through the roof! The only talk I've heard about the Playstation is how expensive it is. Ouch.

Oh, and did I mention Booth Babes? Here's one for the road.

And here's one more. BTW, this fight turned very ugly.

So last night after the press conference, Nintendo had a gi-normous after party at the Highlands featuring the Black Eyed Peas. I only know two things about the B.E.P — 1. They're in a Best Buy commercial. 2. Well... You can guess this one and here's a hint — it involves urine. Anyways, the 'ole B.E.P. sounded fine and everyone had fun. On the way out of the show we picked up some neat schwag — keychains that play Super Mario sound effects. Nice!

And get this, Mr. Miyamoto was at the party and he was signing autographs. If only I'd had my DS and a sharpie with me... Argh!

Ok, that's it for now. We're going out to dinner in a little while and I'm looking forward to some good food, good conversation, and a nice glass of vino!

Even after high recommendations from friends, it was the Ballard Market's "Festival of Salt" that prodded me into buying my first gourmet salt. Sure, the whole salt thing has been hot for awhile, but I honestly thought, "It's salt, how good could it be?"

Well let me tell you... it's that good, if not better. That first taste literally knocked the flip-flops (I don't wear socks, or shoes for that matter, after the first day of spring) off of my feet. Matiz Mediterráneo also makes a smoked sea salt which I gotta try now.

I found this salt guide from Saltworks after I started looking for info about Matiz Mediterráneo. Saltworks sells salts, so... I'm glad I stopped myself there.

If you've been considering trying something other than Kosher or table salts, don't waste another second. Get on it. This salt is worth its salt.

Hot on the heels of ABC Full Episode Streaming, CBS gives it a go.

I'm anxious to meet Innertube. I want to be friends. It's the Tiffany network after all. Maybe Ghost Whisperer is available? JLove kickin' it with the undead is perfect for the internets.

I crack open my iBook, find the site... and this is what I'm greeted with?!?

First choose a media player?!? Windows or Real? Download links?

CBS, you detected that I had Flash 8 on my machine. Is that not good enough for you? Could you not figure out how to *securely* deliver video by other means? That's why you're doing this to me, right?

I think I'll go watch an episode of Alias instead.