Brendan I. Koerner's Blog, page 127

Why Iran Matters to Microkhan

We tend to blog best when we’re focused on relative esoterica like competitive eating, bootleg cigarettes, and the films of Klaus Kinski. But as noted in Microkhan’s mission statement, we—okay, I—reserve the right to tackle more mainstream topics when the situation warrants. And the ongoing tumult in Iran is just such an occasion.

I can’t shake the Iran story because the country is so integral to one of my formative memories: The 1979-80 hostage crisis at the American embassy in Tehran. I was fi

Transfixed by the Green

Apologies for the slow start today, but we’re completely absorbed in the ever-changing situation in Iran—a situation that appears to be growing more violent by the hour. Packing up and heading to our mobile headquarters (i.e. the Columbia University library) in a matter of minutes. More soon.

Heading to the Half King

Shutting it down early to prep for tonight’s reading at The Half King down in Chelsea. For those with easy access to New York’s wondrous subway system, please swing by if the spirit moves you. The address is 505 W. 23rd Street (just west of 10th Avenue), and the festivities kick off at 7 p.m. sharp. We’ll be reading passages describing the horrors of Burmese leeches and Naga tiger-hunting rituals. Hope to see y’all there.

Breaks in the Road

It’s so hard to fathom why some talented folks decide to chuck it all in favor of more humdrum lives. Such is the case with the great Betty Harris, who recorded a bunch of outstanding soul sides in the 1960s, then mysteriously disappeared. The cut above was her last, and it’s a Microkhan favorite—an odd-yet-catching meditation on the vagaries of fate, featuring Harris’s trademark semi-growl.

Contrary to frequent rumors, Harris did not become an interstate trucker. Instead, she settled into a lif

Victory on Rat Island

We’ll admit, we were deeply skeptical of plans to rid Alaska’s Rat Island of its marauding rodents. But the airdropped brodifacoum actually seems to have done the trick. Execs at Club Med are surely licking their chops.

Why We Aren’t Razorbacks

Look, we’ve occasionally been as tempted as the next Mongolian monarch to pull up stakes and move to Arkansas. But every time the urge hits, we remember that Al Green’s birthplace boasts the toughest liquor laws in the nation—even tougher than those in Utah, where we once had a devil of a time finding an ice-cold beer. And while we’re all for the principle of local control over certain matters, we’d be none-too-enthused to live in a state where an entity called the Dry Counties Coalition can att

The Technology of Tyranny

Given that the Iran hostage crisis is one of our formative memories, we’ve taken a keen interest in the recent tumult on the streets of Tehran. Of particular note has been the regime’s effective use of technology to foil grassroots communications. First the mullahs shut off text messaging and The Tubes, then they actually managed to squelch incoming satellite transmissions—thereby insuring that Iranian dish owners can’t get a Western perspective on the protests.

Satellite jamming is no mean feat,

And Speaking of Basketball…

For this week’s Bad Movie Friday, we’re gonna hit the proverbial layup and call out 1997’s Double Team. (Tagline: “He’s a one-man arsenal…with enough voltage to rock the world!”) The film is notable primarily for oddball hoopster Dennis Rodman’s scenery-chewing co-lead performance, opposite Jean-Claude Van Damme on the verge of sliding into his cocaine phase. We not-so-fondly recall catching this abomination on cable some years back, and walking away from the experience with a Slurpee-like brain

“Shoots His Basket Like a Star”

After last night’s Now the Hell Will Start reading out in Bed-Stuy, we spent an exceedingly pleasant few hours knocking back pints of Carlsberg with our comrade Ryan Nerz. The NBA Finals were playing on the bar’s TV, and so much of our conversation focused on hoops. And given Ryan’s origins in the Hoosier State, the talk eventually turned to Indiana’s peculiar madness for basketball. Really, the sport is almost like religion there—like what sepak takraw is to Malaysia, but even more so. As the s

The Technetium-99 Crisis

There are already so many reasons to love our Canadian brothers: poutine, Rush, Alex Trebek. But let’s add another to the lengthy list: The nation to our north makes PET scans possible, by producing the bulk of the world’s supply of medical isotopes. Chief among these isotopes is Technetium-99, which is key to safe pediatric bone scans.

But now it looks as if Canada may be getting out of the business, due to fears that its nuclear reactors are too aged to operate safely. Technetium-99 is produced