Brandon Eats was less than impressed with the “new” 3rd Street Diner and points out that her article in Style Weekly agrees says it all:

It’s a whole lot cleaner but a whole lot more depressing at the same time. The overall décor is “new dive” and not in a hip, knowing sense, but in the sense that this kind of décor could attract the sort of customer who will quickly burn holes all over the tables, leave hypodermics in the bathroom and transform it into an actual dive in no time flat.

And then they pan the food and service and righfully so. I hit the place up with a couple friends a few weeks back around 7 in the evening so there was no dinner crowd and no middle of the night issues to deal with. Not only was the food way below par but the service left me uninspired. My food arrived a full ten minutes before the rest of my party when what they had ordered didn’t need to take so long. Maybe I’d have enjoyed my meal a bit more if it were warm but I don’t intend on returning to find out. I might have to start hitting the 4th St. Diner, which was bad the last time I went but not this bad…

Or, as Jason Kottke put it, 100 mostly useless words.

A facinating account of the Armenian massacres and how America responded. Just getting started and it’s really well done and shows a country coming of age in the international community during the late 1800s/early 1900s.

It’s nice when I can get paid to do this stuff:

Somewhere some art fan wants my head on a stick. But I’m just continuing the theme for our “Greek Campaign”:

Photoshop is my new favorite toy.

It’s so important that not only did I tack it onto yesterday’s RVA Blog Carnival but I’m gonna give it its own post.

Blogger Meet-Up June 3rd. Contact John Murden for details. C’mon, you know you wanna.

In a fit of boredom I redesigned J’s Notes again. Why? Meh, why not? Sure there are other things I could or should be doing but changing the face of my very own site is something that has meaning and stuff. Yes, I went with a childish design. But you know what? I’m childish. So enjoy!

Note: Some of the archive pages don’t quite fit the new design. That’s because I got into this mood where bigger was better and large images rocked the J’s Notes scene. So I’ve kinda gotta go back and tweak those. Which will happen over time. But if all you’re interested in in the present and future J’s, well, your eyes should be okay.

UPDATE: How could I forget… John Murden announces the next RVABlogger Meet-Up over at Lestercat. Blog-B-Que, baby!

Chris <3s RVA.

Hey, Fan businesses, are you on the map?

Stephen over at Sisyphus fills us in on the new Creation Museum opening in Kentucky.

Shedrivesajimmy had some italian deliciousness by way of 8 1/2. And while you’re at In Vino Veritas, check out the updates on a few RVA establishments. And the rest of the blog. ‘Cause it’s sweet.

PJPink was first, but then John Sarvay also dug Kitchen 64 so much that I may have to go dig it myself. You should too. If you know what’s good for you. (Food’s good for you. Now you know.)

Tripp Fenderson’s side projcet, RichmondCellars, has seen some booming Internets activity lately and has some nifty updates on the way.

Ross wanted to know what you (Richmond) know about Gilpin Court. He even offered to give stuff away. So people jumped on the chance at free stuff. Not only did someone win himself some free muzak, but we (Richmond) won with some knowledge and then some more knowledge and, really, what could be cooler than being in the know about something other than the fact that food is good for you?

And, as usual, if you’d like to host an upcoming carnival, let me know and I’ll sign you up. And be sure to submit all the sweet blog postings throughout the week by e-mailing me here or using the RVABC form. If no one else has at, join me here next week for yet another thrilling episode of the Richmond, Virginia Blog Carnival!

*Listen to the new LCD Soundsystem album. It’s great. I especially dig “New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down”. Thus the title.

A day late and a few bucks short, the whole RVABC will make its way onto J’s Notes and wherever J’s Notes ends up sometime this evening. Mayhaps it’ll be in time to enjoy after dinner. My apologies for the delay. It’s because I’m lazy.

click to enlarge

I wish that circle around the moon turned out better. I wish I’d been steadier with the camera. I wish my camera took better pictures. I wish you could have been there to see it.

Someone hooked up up with a copy of this movie:

And I’m gonna watch it.

Anyone have any holiday weekend plans?

It’s back for another go, people. Submit your favorite blog entries from the Richmond area to the upcoming Richmond Blog Carnival! “What requirements are there for these submissions”, you may be asking? Well, they have to be:

1) from a Richmond blog
2) posted in the last week (though since it’s been a while I’ll be a bit generous on this)
3) in my inbox by 8am Monday, May 27th

So shoot me an e-mail with your favorite blog servings of the week or use this neat form.

Also, if you’re interested in hosting a future episode of the blog carnival, let me know and I’ll get you on the list of super exclusiveness.

Gimmie what’chu got!

If this looks familiar, well, it is. Being a lazy bum I just cut and paste the last one. Mwa ha ha ha!

House Dems are aiming to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine to try and stifle Conservative talk radio and more, free speech and free market be damned!

Much of the doctrine, regulated through the FCC, was largely dumped in 1987. Other parts of it, related to “personal attack” rule and the “political editorial” rule, remained in place until 2000. The personal attack rule required anyone “attacked” over the airwaves to be notified beforehand and given an opportunity to respond. A similar rule was followed for the political editorial, where a broadcaster endorsing one political candidate or issue had to give similar time for a response from those not endorsed or supported.

The decision to press for re-establishment of the Fairness Doctrine now seems to have developed for two reasons. “First, [Democrats] failed on the radio airwaves with Air America, no one wanted to listen,” says a senior adviser to Pelosi. “Conservative radio is a huge threat and political advantage for Republicans and we have had to find a way to limit it. Second, it looks like the Republicans are going to have someone in the presidential race who has access to media in ways our folks don’t want, so we want to make sure the GOP has no advantages going into 2008.”

If Fred Thompson runs, will Law and Order be required to have Hillary Clinton guest star?

According to another Democrat leadership aide, Pelosi and her team are focused on several targets in the fight, including Rush Limbaugh and the Salem Radio Network. In fact, Kucinich’s staff has begun investigating Salem, one of the fastest growing radio networks in the country, which features such popular — and highly rated — conservative hosts as Bill Bennett and Michael Medved, and Christian hosts such as Dr. Richard Land.

“They are identifying senior employees, their political activities and their political giving,” says a Government Reform committee staffer. “Salem is a big target, but the big one is going to be Limbaugh. We know we can’t shut him up, but we want to make life a bit more difficult for him.”

Will they apply this to netroots activity as well? Are they going to go after newspaper publishers? Couldn’t they just target producers and employees without FCC regulation, or do they feel that with FCC’s blessing it’d suddenly become ethical?

What better way to start off the RVA Blog Carnival than welcoming the new kid on the block of community blog sites. FT Rea of SLANTBlog fame enlisted the help of numerous Richmond bloggers and is proud to present the Fan District Hub which is really a great site and worth a read.

MaxPower and John Sarvay hit up Greater Richmond Challenge II. What was the GRC? MaxPower sayz: Basically I pay the Chamber of Commerce a bunch of money so I can brainstorm ideas to make Richmond a better place to live. I will be there because I am Richmond’s number one fan/cheerleader. NUMBER ONE. Huzzah!

Speaking of making Richmond a better place to live, Urban Richmond? calls for some real effort by the city to get public input on developing Boulevard and The Diamond.

Jon Baliles joins Style Weekly in targeting corruption in Richmond.

Don Harrison says the Richmond School Board needs a bit of impeaching to fall upon it.

John Sarvay shares a story about Woodville Elementary School and the people who make it shine.

Richard Sebastian tells us that Doug Wilder has met Web 2.0 and they seem to be getting along despite a little misunderstanding.

Mohawk! Though Clay Blancett has found the worst mohawk ever. Or is it the sweetest?

PJPink and Tripp met at Tarrant’s Cafe and appear to have had a wonderful time. Tripp also seems to be forcing wine upon PJPink, introducing her to Wine Lovers, though there seems to be little complaint from PJPink.

Jack Cooksey heard Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel speak last weekend.

John Sarvay’s got the scoop on two new restaurants Northside.

Join us next week as we do it again. If you’d like to host an upcoming carnival, let me know and I’ll sign you up. And be sure to submit all the sweet blog postings throughout the week by e-mailing me here or using the RVABC form.

It’s back for another go, people. Submit your favorite blog entries from the Richmond area to the upcoming Richmond Blog Carnival! “What requirements are there for these submissions”, you may be asking? Well, they have to be:

1) from a Richmond blog
2) posted in the last week (though since it’s been a while I’ll be a bit generous on this)
3) in my inbox by 8am Monday, May 14th

So shoot me an e-mail with your favorite blog servings of the week or use this neat form.

Also, if you’re interested in hosting a future episode of the blog carnival, let me know and I’ll get you on the list of super exclusiveness.

Gimmie what’chu got!