Blowhard, Esq. writes:

• GQ presents its list of the 21 books from the 21st century every man who wants to bang an NPR listener should read. The intro says they spent “months” creating the list which is surprising given that it has all the usual suspects. Not one genre work? And what’s with this assumption that the only “books” that seem to count are novels? They couldn’t think of a single piece of nonfiction?
• Los Angeles’s Sixth Street Bridge — made famous in films such as Grease, Repo Man, and Terminator 2 — has “concrete cancer” so it must be torn down. Take a look at the replacement. Can someone explain to me why they shouldn’t just rebuild the original design? Speaking of garbage, real estate billionaire Eli Broad is building an art museum next door to the Walt Disney Concert Hall and here’s the new federal courthouse proposed for a couple blocks away. When will the public get sick of this antiseptic-white, swoopy-melty shit being foisted upon us?
• To get the bad taste out of your mouth, here’s a gallery of charming (i.e. human-scaled and decorative) side streets from around the world.
• Best Photoshopping Ever?
• For all I know, in vitro meat will prove to be a godsend because it will one day allow the consumption of high-quality protein around the planet without all the inhumane and negative environmental side effects from CAFOs. But given the health, nutrition, and medical establishment’s track records over the past 60 years, excuse me if I’m skeptical.
• Speaking of Ed Jagels and Bakersfield, let’s check in and see how things are going there.
• While many are justly outraged over the DOJ monitoring the AP’s phone calls, the problem is likely much bigger. This Wired cover story about the NSA datacenter being built in Utah is worth revisiting.