“Wal-Mart Struggles to Expand in Chicago - New York Times” plus 4 more

Wal-Mart Struggles to Expand in Chicago - New York Times
Buddhist monks use hip hop, alcohol to attract followers - CNN
When Conan leaves 'Tonight,' how much will change? - Associated Press
Firm will remove Bible references from gun sights - Biloxi Sun Herald
Small-Plate Sensations - Wall Street Journal

Wal-Mart Struggles to Expand in Chicago - New York Times

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 08:47 PM PST

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In the room behind the City Council chambers during the Jan. 13 meeting, a high-ranking Wal-Mart official asked Mayor Richard M. Daley if he was committed to the company's plans to expand beyond its only store in Chicago. The city's only Wal-Mart ...

Buddhist monks use hip hop, alcohol to attract followers - CNN

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 08:47 PM PST

Tokyo, Japan (CNN) -- Outside the 400-year-old Kyoouji Temple, Kansho Tagai, dressed in his traditional monk robes, paused and began a sutra. He bobbed his head and then broke into a lyrical rap.

"This is an old, old story, a fantasy and longing cosmology. Hey, hey, what's the story about? It's about the Buddha, yo. Hey brother, listen carefully! You got it? No? You don't? Okay, baby, no problem."

Tagai, or Mr. Happiness, as he prefers to be called, is delivering an ancient message to a hip hop beat. The monk hosts hip hop shows at his temple, drawing young people to a place that is traditionally filled with the elderly. His hip hop message is so popular that twice as many people now visit his temple.

"Buddha's doctrine is a treasure for us," Tagai said. "But we're not able to convey his wisdom to the people if we only stick with the old ways. So I try to use a new way to spread Buddha's doctrine. I want to spread Buddhism to the young by using the language they easily understand. Buddhism itself hasn't changed. It's just the way it's presented."

The ancient religion is in crisis, Tagai said, because monks are not reaching the young with a message that brings spiritual relief. The numbers support his fears. Japan is home to 75,000 temples, but those numbers are on the decline. The Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs reports that since 2000, hundreds of temples have closed every year.

Will religion soon be a thing of the past?

Younger monks like Tagai are taking matters into their own hands, by trying to attract a new generation of Buddhists.

At the Monk Bar in Shinjuku, Zenshin Fujioka shakes up the house special. He pours a drink layered in red, yellow and pink, which he calls "heaven." His other special of the night is "hell," a spicy vodka mix that sticks with you for hours.

Never mind that Zenshin is a monk. Sutras are shaken and stirred at the Monk Bar.

"There's this image that monks sit deep in a mountain, training alone," Zenshin said. "But it's important that we come down into the secular world and live in modern society. An altar doesn't mean you have a temple. A temple is a place where people follow the faith and Buddha."

"This place is a temple," Zenshin said, wiping liquor off the bar.

To those who call the venue a gimmick, he said, "please visit my bar before judging."

As the bar filled with smoke and patrons one evening, Zenshin paused and rang his bell. The ancient sutras flowed forth, as customers listened.

Hardly anyone can follow the ancient Buddhist text, a Japanese that's so complicated, only monks are readily able to understand it. But Zenshin said the real religion happens as he pours the drinks, talking to his guests about their problems and soothing with the Buddhist texts.

"Buddhism for Japan is a religion you normally only experience at funerals," said patron Naoyuki Osano, who comes to the bar twice a week. "But the Buddhist philosophy is wonderful. It's great to have a place like this for us to learn about Buddhism."

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When Conan leaves 'Tonight,' how much will change? - Associated Press

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 08:11 PM PST

NEW YORK (AP) -- We're steeling ourselves for Conan's farewell Friday night (as if he were headed into Witness Protection).

We're getting set for the imminent return of Jay (who never left).

We're catching our breath from all the jokes, bile and turmoil leading up to Thursday's deal that springs Conan from NBC after 17 years and re-establishes Jay's ongoing service.

And through it all, we're recognizing things we already knew (or should have known from ratings figures and our own eyes): Jay Leno was a flop with his prime-time talk show. Conan O'Brien was a flop as Leno's successor hosting "The Tonight Show." And the people who run NBC are unmatched in the industry for fashioning fiascos - then, in an NBC tradition, super-sizing them.

This is nothing new, as the Late Night Follies of the early 1990s remind us. After months of all-too-public dithering and bumbling, NBC chose Leno over David Letterman to inherit "The Tonight Show" from Johnny Carson. Longtime "Late Night" host Letterman, the heir apparent, was hurt and angry that NBC betrayed him. He bolted to CBS and waged war on his old network.

But that was not before he rejected NBC's scheme to unseat Leno, a deal hatched in January 1993 after Leno had logged his first unpromising few months. All Letterman had to do was cool his heels for a year and half, until Leno's contract ran out. Then "Tonight" would be his. Or so NBC said.

In short, the current round of Stupid NBC Tricks should have come as no surprise to any of us viewers. It's been more like an entertaining encore of a time-honored act.

It has also been a whirlwind reminder of how late-night TV remains a fixture on the nation's cultural radar screen - at least as much as on TV screens.

Even people who don't catch much of Conan, Jay or Dave (or Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon or Craig Ferguson) care what they do. We forge relationships with them that endure for years, decades, even lifetimes. We identify with them. We love them for their fame and for the famous guests who come to them. We know where they are every night, and we like knowing they're there.

What we call "late night" is an institution that began on NBC more than a half-century ago. NBC's Steve Allen invented it, down to the desk and sofa. Then puckish, unpredictable Jack Paar stepped in for several years. Then, for a 30-year span, Carson reigned as the King of Late Night. Then he stepped away forever.

After Friday, Conan will be gone from NBC. In his final shows, we have relished the ceremony, poignance and zingers lobbed at NBC brass and at Jay, who on March 1 will reclaim the "Tonight Show" crown.

Nielsen numbers say O'Brien didn't cut the mustard (he's been averaging about half the audience Leno was bringing to "Tonight" a year ago). He leaves NBC enriched by more than $30 million. He could be back on the air with another show as soon as September. But he is the designated victim, at least to most observers.

The way they see it, O'Brien has taken a tragic, spectacular fall.

He's been trashed before he had the chance to prove himself at "Tonight" (which he reverentially described as the greatest franchise "in the history of broadcasting" in refusing to uproot his show to accommodate Leno as his lead-in).

He's been robbed of the chance to repeat history at NBC, which 17 years ago plucked him from obscurity to host "Late Night," where, against all odds, he triumphed.

Back then, he was a 30-year-old writer-comedian with a gangly frame, rust-colored pompadour and almost no on-camera experience.

"Nobody knows this guy, nobody's seen him, and I thought you might want to say hello," said Leno, introducing O'Brien to the world on "The Tonight Show" in April 1993.

O'Brien exclaimed that, only hours before, he had learned he got the gig to take over from Letterman.

Five months later, he eagerly threw himself to the wolves with his premiere. On "Late Night" he was greeted with critical slams, a meager audience and a startling lack of support from NBC which, for two years, parceled out renewals in miserly 13-week increments.

Then he caught fire.

By 2004, NBC didn't want to lose this highly prized star. In a boneheaded move, the network guaranteed O'Brien the "Tonight Show" host job five years hence. Leno endorsed the plan by renewing his own contract to bridge the gap.

But after Leno's orchestrated kiss-off from "Tonight," his future was unclear. Whether he would even stay at NBC remained in doubt until late 2008, when the prime-time "Jay Leno Show" was announced.

Now it's Conan's future that's in doubt, while Jay, after what amounts to a prime-time sabbatical, is set to return to "The Tonight Show" just nine months after shoving off.

He may return stigmatized as a guy who reneged on his arrangement with Conan, even played a role in squeezing Conan out. But Leno will probably rejuvenate the ratings for "Tonight." That's what counts.

Meanwhile, we know O'Brien will surely find gainful employment, never mind his wisecracks about job-hunting on Craigslist or working children's parties.

But no matter what happens, "The Tonight Show" is a long way from the bygone years of Carson, Paar and Allen. There's no point getting misty-eyed about its glorious past. Long before this shake up on a fallen network, "Tonight" already had become just another hour in late night.

---

EDITOR'S NOTE - Frazier Moore is a national television columnist for The Associated Press. He can be reached at fmoore(at)ap.org

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Firm will remove Bible references from gun sights - Biloxi Sun Herald

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 08:47 PM PST

A spokesman for U.S. Central Command initially said the Trijicon sights didn't violate the ban and compared the citations on the sights to the "In God We Trust" inscription printed on U.S. currency.

On Thursday, however, Army Gen. David Petraeus, Central Command's top officer, called the practice "disturbing."

"This is a serious concern to me and the other commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan," Petraeus told an audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

In a statement issued later by the command, Petraeus said that "cultural and religious sensitivities are important considerations in the conduct of military operations."

New Zealand announced Thursday that they would remove the citations from the sights they have, and Australia, which also uses the sights, is assessing what to do.

New Zealand defense force spokesman Maj. Kristian Dunne said Trijicon would be instructed to remove the inscriptions from further orders of the gun sights for New Zealand and the letters would be removed from gun sights already in use by troops.

The inscriptions are not obvious and appear in raised lettering at the end of the stock number. Trijicon's rifle sights use tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen, to create light and help shooters hit what they're aiming for.

Markings on the Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight, which is standard issue to U.S. special operations forces, include "JN8:12," a reference to John 8:12: "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, 'I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life,'" according to the King James version of the Bible.

The Trijicon Reflex sight is stamped with 2COR4:6, a reference to part of the second letter of Paul to the Corinthians: "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ," the King James version reads.

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Small-Plate Sensations - Wall Street Journal

Posted: 21 Jan 2010 08:47 PM PST

By BRUCE PALLING

Alex Iturralde

Pintxatu black salad at A Fuego Negro restaurant in San Sebastián.

The small-plate concept of dining seems to be gaining culinary traction throughout Europe but London has become the ground zero for experimentation with cuisine derived from three main sources -- the cicchetti of Venice, tapas of Barcelona and pintxos of San Sebastian. From these century-old beginnings, the style has expanded into creative dishes which are all starter sized.

There are innumerable reasons why they make sense -- the price for one and then there is the opportunity to savor a dozen different taste sensations in one meal. It is as if the haute-cuisine tasting menu concept has suddenly come down to the level of bars and simple restaurants but with an important twist. You choose what you want and in which order it arrives.

Terroirs

Chef Ed Wilson carving Jamon Iberico at Terroirs in London.

In London, two of the three new Michelin Bib Gourmand awards have gone to small-plate restaurants -- Bocca di Lupo in Soho and Terroirs in Covent Garden. Another outstanding one, Dehesa (www.dehesa.co.uk) off Carnaby Street, got its Bib Gourmand a year ago.

Terroirs (www.terroirswinebar.com), located in a side street underneath Coutts bank, has been an extraordinary success. Although based on the natural wine bars of Paris, Terroir has created a wildly successful venue for people to just drop in, and have a glass of wine with such signature dishes as Lincoln smoked eel with celeriac remoulade or anchovies, shallots and unsalted butter. The paper place mat is actually the daily menu, so customers can instantly order at any time of their stay. Chef Ed Wilson believes speed to be of the essence: "Because we prepare everything in advance, even before the drinks order has arrived we can be serving a plate of charcuterie, duck rillette and a few slices of ham straight out of our kitchen."

Dehesa

The interior at Dehesa in London.

Diners typically order three or four dishes each, which is similar in San Sebastian in Spain, where the pintxos, or bar food, is arguably the most sophisticated in the world. In Spain, the main factor for its development has been cultural. Basques rarely have a proper breakfast, so they tend to eat more in bars later in the morning. Gabriella de Aguirre, the American-born expert on Basque cuisine, also believes that "it is more stimulating to have a whole parade of culinary delights on offer and it is some of the most economical and wholesome food you can find."

There is a similarly strong tradition in Venice for a great array of sophisticated bar snacks, known as cicchetti. The Cantina do Mori (+39-0-41-522-5401) has been operating in the same premises since 1462, offering an array of bar snacks skewered with toothpicks in glass cases that look like a miniature edible yacht marina. The selection includes deep fried tuna balls, char-grilled artichokes, anchovies with boiled eggs, pureed cod on polenta, marinated sardines and a variety of cured meats with pecorino cheese.

Alex Iturralde

Salmorejo cherry over Iberian fried breadcrumbs at A Fuego Negro restaurant in San Sebastián.

On the other side of the Grand Canal, there is an intriguing new small-plate concept at Naranzaria (www.naranzaria.it), owned by the Brandolini family. Here, with views overlooking the Rialto Bridge, you can eat the full array of conventional cicchetti but also try innovative dishes created by Akira Nakasuga, the Brazilian-born Japanese chef. He offers interesting cultural mixtures such as tuna, mozzarella and tomato sushi. "People like small plates because you can try Japanese algae and then have perfect risotto at the same table," says co-owner Contessa Marie Brandolini.

It is almost as if with the reduction in plate size, chefs feel obliged to be more creative and individualistic because they have more opportunities to impress with a greater number of dishes. One relatively unknown London bar restaurant that excels in creativity is Dehesa (www.dehesa.co.uk), arguably the only restaurant in London that is equally inspired by Spanish and Italian influences. Located at the edge of Carnaby Street, it serves stimulating combinations such as spiced line-caught tuna carpaccio with dehydrated olives, capers and preserved lemons (Italian), next to prawns with saffron potatoes Piquillo peppers, chilli and prawn essence (Spanish). Creations like baked gratin of Taleggio with trompette de la mort mushroom, cavolo nero and potato gnocchi could rival any dish in the tasting menu of a Michelin-starred restaurant.

Founder Simon Mullins says customers usually order three or four plates each, which puts a challenge on the kitchen as that adds up to about 5,000 plates a week. "Our average spend is £28 a head so this is approximately the same price as a main course at a top restaurant," Mr. Mullins says. "If you sit down with a group of people you can easily have 10 or 12 dishes and share them, which makes it tremendously sociable -- it really affects the way people interact when they have so much to talk about -- it builds rapport through the food."

Corbis

Sardines with Harissa

New Zealand-born chef Peter Gordon was the most renowned Pacific Rim chef in London in the '90s. Since 2001 he has run a small-plate restaurant located on Marylebone High Street called The Providores (www.theprovidores.co.uk), which is the last word in small-plate fusion cuisine.

"Whenever I had chefs dropping by to try my food, I would end up making them lots of small plates, so I thought, why not start a restaurant with that concept for all the dishes," says Mr. Gordon. For him, it's not about the speed of the meal but about the variety: "People can experience more, which we think is a good thing. If I come back from my other restaurant in Istanbul, or from a trip to Japan, I naturally incorporate some ideas into the dishes too." This would explain the presence on the breakfast menu of poached Turkish eggs with whipped yoghurt and hot chilli butter, or char-grilled aubergine with pickled ginger, toasted coconut, coriander, den miso and shichimi.

The most acclaimed small-plates chef in London is Jason Atherton, the Michelin-starred chef at Maze (www.gordonramsay.com/maze/), located next to the American Embassy in Mayfair. He was the first British chef to spend a season at Ferran Adrià's famous El Bulli in Spain. When he first opened Maze in 2005, he was adamant that he didn't want it to be a formal fine-dining experience.

"I wanted it to be exciting and lively and informal with music playing and no table cloths," he says. "But most importantly I want people to have a choice. My wife never wants more than two dishes off a tasting menu, whereas I like having the entire thing. Most of the time you can't have both at the same table, which I think is a load of rubbish -- it is for the customer to make the decision, not the chef. If you want to come in and have two desserts a cup of coffee and nothing else, that's fine by me, or a soup and a glass of wine. I want to revolutionize the way fine dining is perceived and I think we have done that."

—Bruce Palling is a writer based in London.

Write to Bruce Palling at wsje.weekend@wsj.com

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Cultural

Thursday, January 21, 2010