So I get home from work at 3 AM, watch a few quick minutes of the Daily Show and see............Matt Taibbi. For anyone who's familiar with his work, and with the eXile in general (which I was never a big fan of), how freaking weird is that? Provided its the same guy, but I'm pretty sure it was............. Shurik, you got somethin' to say about this, given that its your beloved profession?
My beloved profession has given livelihood and refuge from the rest of society to a countless amount of clinical drunks, manic depressives, sexual addicts and one guy from Magnitogorsk (Chelyabinsk Region), currently hailed as the Bronze Quill of Russian Hockey Journalism, who habitually shows up to press conferences wearing a fisherman's vest with a large greasy stain on the back, track pants and black dress shoes, repaired with transparent Scotch tape. So what's a little investigatvie reporting in the field of venerical deseases? But do elaborate.
I can't stand Taibbi. Met him & Ames once, at least Ames speaks good Russian, Taibbi I cannot say the same for. I found both of them to be rather self-indulgent boors, although I will admit to usually reading the eXile rather regularly online. Ames was always the talent among the pair, in a Hunter S. Thompson-esque way, at least IMHO. Greetings from Litva, BTW. I'm sitting in an internet cafe in Vilnaius Street in Kaunas Old Town, some crappy Muzak type mood music in the place, and lo & behold, what do I hear?? A Leningrad tune, Muzak adaptation....never thought I'd see the day. Trip has gone well so far, perfect weather, Vilnius was outstanding, Kaunas a little more stodgy but still interesting. Heading for the coast tomorrow, Palanga, where I'll be for the duration. Couple things: 1. Ohhhhhh....the women here. I'm without words. Simply outstanding. 2. Not knowing any Lithianian whatsoever, at every establishment I go into I alwasy ask which is the preference, English or Russian. Other than 1 or 2 kiosks staffed by 50 year old women, overwhelmingly they prefer English here, even in Kaunas, which is supposedly a little less cosmopolitan in their attitudes towards foreigners of any ilk. 3. The kebinai in Trakai, by far my favorite local culinary flavor so far, ate there as we arrived for luch & went back for dinner. 4. Honey based booze is very dangerous, especially when the local host refuses to show you the bottle or tell you the proof, but just keeps pouring. Sneaks up on u like a Stealth enabled freight train in the night.
I've never heard of Taibbi, but a quick google gave this nice article, especially considering that I am working in survey development field: http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/23442/ But a little background on why this guy is such a celebrity would be great Zenit, did you make it to Druskininkai? Palanga is also great, spent a month there once. Fantastic biking for a 12-year-old, I seem to remember It is also but a short drive away from Kaliningrad -- home of Immanuel Kant, with his gravesite opposite a hollow post-WW2-bombing church.
Beh... More Russian people know of me than of both of them combined. And when it comes to self-indulgent boorishness... oh, mama mia!
Gazeta.ru published the following announcement: Лондонская полиция показала фотографии четырех человек, подозреваемых во взрывах 21 июля. Скотланд-Ярд заявил, что расследование идет полным ходом и пятничная стрельба на станции Stockwell только подтверждение тому. В полиции уверены, что убили потенциального шахида. Source: http://www.gazeta.ru/firstplace.shtml Attached is a picture of a suspect (see below), which is, by the way, looks amazingly similar to Dennis Rodman (see attached).
Taibbi and Ames have always treated me well for some reason so god love em. They once took me for lunch and asked if I wanted to become dep editor of Exile. I was too shocked too eat the paid for lunch. It was only later I found out that I was one of many they had asked. His book's called Spanking the Donkey - he dresses up as a gorilla and interviews Wesley Clark on LSD (Taibbi, that is, not Clark) and works as a republican campaigner where he sets up fart machines at events. Ames' book comes out soon as well on rage killings, I fink.