A Hot, Humid Roundup: Photoshopped Edition

MD is away at a wedding in Washington State, and I am languishing in the heat. There are some good posts in the works, but in the very humid meanwhile, I offer you a quick roundup of links related to recent posts. Tasty. The Red Hook ballfield vendors have been granted an extension to their current permits, which allows them to serve food at the park until the end of soccer season, October 28 (the Parks Department had threatened to yank the permits on Sept 7). But don't dillydally -- get on down there ASAP! MD and I are headed to the middle of Maryland for a wedding at the end of July; we'll be renting a car once we get to Baltimore -- any suggestions for Baltimore-and-environs good eats? We're almost definitely hitting a Five Guys Famous Burgers and Fries (yes, we know that there's one now open in the Bronx), and we might try to find a Sonic, so I can consume the potential likely travesty that is a Frito Pie Burrito. iPhone|Tech. Related to MD's musings on to-iPhone-or-not-to-iPhone, I recently stumbled upon two great pieces in the always wonderful Design Observer: What if Apple is Bad for Design?, and a link to a pre-iPhone-announcement blog posting about Treo-love. [update: and now, via Design Observer, this too: an 'interview' with Steve Jobs.] The quirk. Ever since I started this series of posts, friends have been emailing me about online goings-on that I should know about; one ex telephoned last Sunday, a bit out of the blue, to ask if I had read the Times' Styles section article on the craft fair (I had, and told him to read my mildly indignant post on having our trendspotting swiped by the Times). Most of the emailing has been related, however, to one Miranda July: had I read the NY Magazine piece from a few weeks ago (yes, and do not get me started and yes I also read this article too); did I see that Gawker has now joined the anti-July club (yes; thanks, RE); did I want to attend an after-party where she might be present (no; and I really don't think we'd magically get along, RZS). For someone who finds Ms. July emblematic of everything that is currently wrong with market forces, I find myself, via my posts, swept up in that very maelstrom of damaged+precious. The market needs my indignant thoughts in order for the quirk to get stronger (that which does not kill the quirk....), and so I'm wondering if I need to take a hiatus from public or private thoughts about how much I'd like to see this cultural phenomenon implode inside its own wide-eyed shell of flouncy tops and cute barrettes. Probably not. It's going to be a long, hot summer. I need something to motivate me, even if it requires looking at another picture of enough already Zooey Deschanel. Maybe I'll even cave in and hang out with Miranda. (ha!) Oh well; I guess The Market (aka Invisible Hand - man, that'd be a great wrestling name) wins this round.