By Jonathan Shipley
A weekly roundup from Shipley’s nightstand.
Hard Foul
A Rhode Island man has received a $400,000 settlement because of a faulty penile implant he received. His erection lasted TEN YEARS. In the January issue of Harper’s.
Tent Revival
Interesting sidenote: The man hasn’t purchased sweatpants for a decade.
Anticlimactic
The rest of the January Harper’s ain’t bad either. Recommended: “The Swim Team” by Miranda July and “Catching Out: Travels in an Open Boxcar” by William T. Vollmann.
Fine Wines
The latest Wine Spectator gives props to the 100 best wines of 2006. The big winner? Chateau Leoville Barton St.-Julien ’03 ($75 a bottle). Second place goes to Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Washington ’03 ($85); third goes to Casanova Di Neri Brunello di Montalcino Tetuta Nuova ’01 ($70). My favorite, Fat Bastard Sparkling ’06, didn’t make the list.
Immaculate Komoco Conceptions
Female Komodo dragons in captivity have startled their zookeepers by laying viable eggs without any contact with males, according to the December 30th issue of Science News. My girlfriend has similarly surprised me by coming up pregnant despite a long-term absence of sex (long story). She did visit the zoo recently though . . .
Descent Into Madness
Scientists have descended almost two miles into a South African gold mine to discover bacteria that survives on energy from uranium, the January issue of Smithsonian reports. Also found down there: Britney Spears’ career.
Red China
The January issue of Bon Appetit highlights a grand new restaurant in Moscow near the Kremlin. Named Turandot, it’s a 65,000-square-foot restaurant that cost $50 million to create, complete with marbled courtyard, sculptures a’plenty, and enough gold to make South African bacteria to jump for joy. The restaurant enlisted the famed Londoner Alan Yau to oversee it’s “imperial Asian” cuisine. The revolution is complete.
Posted on January 4, 2007