A Desperate Attempt to Provoke the Right into Linking Us

Hey SNAPpers - my name's Josh, and the SNAP team has graciously extended me the chance to do some blogging here. My personal site is here, but I hear things like this are more fun when you do them with people you know. At least, that's the impression I get whenever my procrastination instincts lead me over the The Corner, the group blog of the friendly folks trying to roll back all the progress of the past 40, 60, or 100 (depending on the writer) years who write for The National Review. What their blog lacks in substance they make up for in style. They manage to put up a new post like every five minutes - albeit mostly about obscure black and white movie references, obscure etymology questions from their readers, and plans for where to all go out drinking after work (don't believe me? Check it out for yourself). So my hope for SNAPnotes is that we approach The Corner in quantity while running circles around them in relevance. Although it could be fun to try to beat them at their own self-indulgent irrelevance game. Picture it:

WEST WING LAST NIGHT [Josh]
Anyone tape it?

Posted at 2:37 PM

WHO KNEW? [Jared]
Google Earth is really creepy.

Posted at 2:39 PM

FROM A READER [Emily]
Joe from Chicago writes:

I was appalled to read your description of Season Four as Seinfeld's "high point." Have you never seen the Chinese restaurant episode?

No accounting for taste, I guess.

Posted at 2:43 PM

UH OH [Alissa]
Runaway cattle trailer accident in Ireland.

Posted at 2:45 PM

THAT REMINDS ME [Josh]
I haven't had Chinese food in like forever.

Posted at 2:46 PM

RE: ETYMOLOGY OF "MACABRE" [Marissa]
It's from Maccabees:

c.1430, from O.Fr. (danse) Macabré "(dance) of Death" (1376), probably a translation of M.L. (Chorea) Machabæorum, lit. "dance of the Maccabees" (leaders of the Jewish revolt against Syro-Hellenes, see Maccabees). The association with the dance of death seems to be via vivid descriptions of the martyrdom of the Maccabees in the Apocryphal books. The abstracted sense of "gruesome" is first attested 1842 in Fr., 1889 in Eng.

Glad to be able to clear that one up.

Posted at 2:49 PM

NOT TO STIR UP CONTROVERSY, BUT... [Helena]
Vote for your top five favorite Xbox 360 Launch Games here.

Posted at 2:50 PM

NO SERIOUSLY [Josh]
Who has Chinese food?

Or last night's West Wing.

Posted at 2:52 PM

Actually, I think we can do better than that. Much, much better than that.

So keep checking back here to see us show the Corner crew that it's possible for people who work together to blog together, be prolific together, and not descend into etymology-sharing.

(If you should be looking for the latest on where the phrase "gild the lilly" came from, or how well wrestlers drive, on the other hand, I think we can leave that to the right-wing lunatics.)