Last night I had the pleasure of sampling some fine take-away from BonChon Chicken (not affiliated with Bon-Ton department stores), a small but growing Korea-based chain which specialises in fresh fried chicken.   

 … Read full post »

The last few days have been hot ones, so today I thought I'd go with the song "Half Century" by Providence band the Brother Kite, which sounds like standing outside in Alaska while watching the aurora borealis streak across the sky. Honestly, I've often thought of the Brother Kite's music… Read full post »

Did you ever wish that you had your finger on the pulse of hip, young America? Remember when suddenly everything was chipotle-flavoured a few years ago and you had no idea what that meant? Do you have trouble distinguishing between the passé and/… Read full post »

Welcome to the first installment of the new Foody Tuesday feature here at Painfully Suburban! Today  we travel to the deep south, as we review the dining experience at Bojangles' Famous Chicken 'n Biscuits.

On my flight to SF, I had about an hour and a half layover… Read full post »

Hello loyal readers,

If you have been wondering why Painfully Suburban has been painfully update-free this week, the answer is that I have somewhat unexpectedly traveled to Salon HQ in Frisco on highly important business this week (If Salon HQ is like a hornets' nest, I am like a/… Read full post »

Spring has it easy. Of all the seasons, it's hardest to imagine anyone objecting to spring, particularly its mild weather and returning verdancy. But set against this idyllic backdrop is a fair amount of decay, destruction, and even death, some of which I photographed and turned into this co… Read full post »

As I was looking through some old photos on my computer last night, I came across the one above, a shot of the 101 playing a bar outside Allentown, PA, taken 11 November, 2005, so I decided that they would make an excellent choice for today's mixtape track.… Read full post »

Ah, another Thursday, another dose of ear candy for our collective enjoyment. This week's song, "The Girl's Distracted," from the album Every Night by Saturday Looks Good To Me, sounds like the product of an impromptu evening hootenanny by your coolest friends had they spent the entire morning and a/… Read full post »

"Is this emo?" my friend asked as we were driving around last summer listening to the New Amsterdams' Worse for the Wear album. She had just finished her first year as a high school teacher and had become interested in the kids who self-identified as "emo," and what differentiated them/… Read full post »

Over the past year, one of my very favourite things in music has been Cloudberry Records, whose rigorous schedule includes several releases per month. Although Cloudberry has recently added a fanzine and vinyl singles, the vast majority of their releases have been 3-song singles on 3-inch mini-CDR'… Read full post »

Did you ever wish that you had your finger on the pulse of hip, young America? Remember when suddenly everything was chipotle-flavoured a few years ago and you had no idea what that meant? Do you have trouble distinguishing between the passé and ironic revivals of the passé? We… Read full post »

Did you ever wish that you had your finger on the pulse of hip, young America? Remember when suddenly everything was chipotle-flavoured a few years ago and you had no idea what that meant? Do you have trouble distinguishing between the passé and ironic revivals of the passé?… Read full post »

Did you ever wish that you had your finger on the pulse of hip, young America? Remember when suddenly everything was chipotle-flavoured a few years ago and you had no idea what that meant? Do you have trouble distinguishing between the passé and ironic revivals of the passé? We… Read full post »

Did you ever wish that you had your finger on the pulse of hip, young America? Remember when suddenly everything was chipotle-flavoured a few years ago and you had no idea what that meant? Do you have trouble distinguishing between the passé and ironic revivals… Read full post »

As promised, I made my first voyage to Cici's Pizza Buffet over the long weekend, and I'm back with the scoop. Expectations were high, and I'm happy to report that they were mostly met, if not exceeded. Despite arriving around 1:30, it was extremely crowded, which was probably due/… Read full post »

When I leave the office every evening, it's like all the stimuli of the outside world enter my body at once. The air, the sunlight, the people, the dogs...they are all ready and waiting for observation, and it can be a bit overwhelming, especially as the brain makes connections between th… Read full post »

If there's one thing that sickness has taught me, it's that when the chips are down, I'll turn to some comforting fast food as a last-gasp attempt at regaining health (very counterintuitive, right?). I spent most of last week battling a miserable stomach virus, and by Saturday I was still… Read full post »

Wow, it's hard to believe that this season of "The Hills" is over already. Maybe it's for the best that it wrapped up after about all of five or six episodes, because on last night's season finale, the plotline sputtered to a standstill. Lauren and Audrina had a fight/… Read full post »

When you buy your ticket to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, you are given a little clip-on metal badge with an "M" on it to wear. Most people choose to wear it on their collar. At the end of your visit, there is a bin where you are… Read full post »

Good morning faithful readers,

Unfortunately, today's Resident Tastemaker column will be postponed until Friday, but don't despair. It will be worth the wait and include a special update on one of the trends profiled in an earlier installment! Thanks for your patience.  Read full post »

According to my ever-useful wall calendar (which has a bird watching theme), it's Labour Day in Queensland, Australia today! Hurrah! To celebrate, here are some photos I took of the 2005 Brisbane Labour Day parade I happened upon when I was in Australia. It was notably more politically-oriented tha… Read full post »

Ah, Georgi vodka really had me going this morning. No, I wasn't in the midst of a hangover, but I did see their new ad on the back of some buses, and for a second I thought they were trying to move upmarket, leaving the Banker's Clubs and likeminded plastic bottle… Read full post »

After the last couple posts about EPs, this week we travel to the opposite end of the spectrum. Recently, Merge Records released the 3-disc, 49-song Supercluster: The Big Dipper Anthology. The recently-reunited Big Dipper, although never commercially successful, was a bit of an underg/… Read full post »

Did you ever wish that you had your finger on the pulse of hip, young America? Remember when suddenly everything was chipotle-flavoured a few years ago and you had no idea what that meant? Do you have trouble distinguishing between the passé and ironic revivals of the passé? We… Read full post »

 Oh no! In less than half an episode, last week's prediction of a massive house on "The Hills" where Lauren, Lo, Audrina, and Justin Bobby live together forever wasn't exactly shattered, but there were ominous foreshadowings that Audrina and JB won't be living there and hanging… Read full post »