3rd\SE Quadrant 11/5 '07

The Approval Matrix: Week of November 5, 2007

"SHAZAM: MONSTER SOCIETY OF EVIL DELUXE EDITION"

Jeff Smith, the award-winning creator of BONE, tells the story of young orphan Billy Batson who finds himself transformed into the World's Mightiest Mortal whenever he says the magic word "Shazam!" after being granted the magical powers of the gods by an ancient wizard. In this hardcover collecting the acclaimed 4-issue miniseries, Billy must use these extraordinary abilities to face an invasion of alien creatures as well as stop mad scientist Dr. Sivana and his Monster Society of Evil from taking over the world! (DC Comics)

Job posted on his blog Jog Likes Comics, "So I read the new book, and it was pretty neat."

"Kid Nation"

Despite her horrible record of failing to make the yellow team perform their assigned tasks, Taylor is arrogantly confident of keeping her job.

"Zach does not have any chance of beating me,"Taylor said smugly,"because I have all five girls on my side."

Zach will have none of it, and runs aggressively on a "clean up this town" platform, reasoning he can win if he can sway just one girl.

And Zach defeated Taylor for the Yellow district seat by a one-vote margin. (Get Real)

"Kid Nation" is a reality television show hosted by Jonathan Karsh that premiered on the CBS network on September 19, 2007 and airs Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET. The show features 40 children aged 8 to 15. In the show, the children try to create a functioning society, including setting up a government system with minimal adult help and supervision. The show stresses the difficulty in creating a viable society. At the end of each episode, an elected council of kids awards the Gold Star, worth $20,000, to a fellow participant. Participants were paid $5,000 for their involvement in the show's taping. (Wikipedia)

Mendoza Diagonal

Club80 posted on the blog Mookie - A very interesting approach to analyzing the correct amount of hotness a woman must have to overcome her craziness. The concept, of course, being that the crazier a woman is, the hotter she must be to overlook it. It was analyzed using the HCS (Hot-Crazy Scale) on How I Met Your Mother. After considering all factors and plotting them on the graph, the side that a crazy woman falls on the Vickie Mendoza Diagonal would scientifically determine whether the relationship is worth pusuing.

In a nutshell, Hot is on the Y axis and crazy on the X axis. The line starts from 0 with a slope of 1. Basically plot where the girl lies on the graph (crazy, hot) and determine on which side she falls on the Vickie Mendoza Diagonal.

2nd Avenue Deli

The 2nd Avenue Deli may reopen in a new location farther uptown near Third Avenue, a year after the landmark restaurant closed its doors in the East Village, depriving the city of what had been its best corned-beef sandwich. The Lebewohl family, who owned the deli for more than 50 years, until a rent dispute with a new landlord shut it down last year, is now expecting to close on the purchase of a building in Murray Hill, where a spokesman for the family said it plans to open a new delicatessen. (The New York Sun)

The following was previously posted on Eater: It looks like the famed 2nd Ave. Deli will definitely be reopening at 162 E. 33rd St according to a reliable confirmation received in the form of a communique from a trusted correspondent:

Me: You still making deliveries?
Driver: Nah man, soon. soon tho.
Me: Really? They are reopening?
Driver: Yeah.
Me: Where?
Driver: Thirty Third and Third
Me: Wow! How long?
Driver: Soon man. Soon.
Me: How soon?
Driver: Oh, I say five months.

Coheed and Cambria

Coheed and Cambria recently performed (Friday, October 19th) at CMJ '07.

Elizabeth Cline of New York wrote about show, "The encore, meanwhile — which came after a typically terrific, anthem-packed show — emphasized the band’s prog-rock leanings. It was devoted entirely to jamming: Sanchez soloed with the guitar behind his head and on a theremin; Travis Stever blew on the mouth harp; and the band’s new drummer, Chris Pennie, earned his keep with some insane off-tempo, double-bass drum rolls. The teenage fans were left seeming a little slack-jawed — but Aunt Antonia could not have been better honored."

Coheed and Cambria is a progressive rock band from Nyack, New York and Kingston, New York. Coheed and Cambria have released four studio albums, two live albums, and various special-edition re-releases. Their albums are concept albums, revealing the plot of an overarching storyline, The Amory Wars. (Wikipedia)

Our Dumb World:
The Onion's Atlas of The Planet Earth,
73rd Edition

Book Description: Our Dumb World: The Onion's Atlas of The Planet Earth, 73rd Edition features incorrect statistics on all of the Earth's 168, 182, or 196 independent nations. It also features maps, including a fold-out world map at actual size. Readers will learn about every country from Afghanistan ... to the Ukraine, "The Bridebasket of Europe."Today's news-parody consumer cannot possibly understand made-up current events without the context of fake world history and geography. That is why The Onion is publishing a world atlas: to help us. Our Dumb World is an invaluable tool for any reader interested in overthrowing a weakened government in East Asia, exploiting a developing nation in Africa, or for directions to tonight's party at Erica's. It is a reference guide to 250,000 of the world's most important places, such as North Korea's Trench of Victory, the Great Human Pyramid of Egypt...(Amazon)

Brian Scott of the blog Book Catcher wrote, "No nation is safe when The Onion's hard-hitting cartographic team is on the job."