Mast General Store Opens 8th Location

 

The North Carolina-based “cradle to casket” outfitter has opened its doors in downtown Columbia, South Carolina. Read more here.

 

Fry-Fry Chicky-Chick

If you haven’t seen self-described fried chicken obsessive Aziz Ansari break down his unique food lingo on Parks and Recreation, please break away from the coverage of Osama bin Laden’s death for 30 seconds to watch this clip. You’ll never look at eggs or rice the same way again.

Somewhere Don Draper is Getting Drunk

From a barn to the 27th floor to that sweet skyscraper in the sky.

There’s good news and bad news circulating in TV Land today. First, let’s rip the Band-Aid off with the Youvegottabeforgettingkiddingme–inducing announcement that AMC is postponing Season 5 of Mad Men amid contract negotiations. The new tentative air date: early 2012. EARLY 2012?! So just as the world is preparing to end in an apocalyptic Mayan blaze, we may (or may not) find comfort in one last hoorah with Don Draper, Betty (well, not Betty but maybe Megan…or at least Sally), and the liquor-swilling employees of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce? If that’s the case, then please, Matthew Weiner, for the love of all saints, bring back Sal Romano and the ghost of Ida “Neil Armstrong” Blankenship!

And now the good news (which, I admit, is more new-ish than new): Season 3 of Eastbound & Down will bring Kenny Powers to Myrtle Beach. Though Kenny worked hard to get “clean and soebs” in Season 2, something tells me he might be getting Myrtle Beach drunk in the not too distant future. What’s Myrtle Beach drunk, you say? Well, I’m glad you asked…

Coming Soon: The Carolina Cup

Reid Buckley is pictured second from left. LIFE photos by Grey Villet, 1971.

The deadline for buying renewing parking spaces at the Carolina Cup is this Friday. [Note: Unclaimed spaces will be up for grabs after the Friday deadline, and general admission parking is available on race day.] If you haven’t been to the Cup, held in Camden, South Carolina each Spring, you’re missing out on one of the greatest tailgating experiences this side of Ascot. Just ask Reid Buckley. William F.’s eccentric brother resides in Camden and is a regular patron of the Carolina Cup and its fall counterpart, the Colonial Cup.

Lady Gaga Goes to USC

My friend and fellow blogger Ward Williams alerted me to this announcement on Gawker a few weeks ago:

“The University of South Carolina will be offering a class called “Lady Gaga and the Sociology of Fame” beginning next spring, taught by an obsessed professor with a Gaga fansite.”

It’s taken me a bit to mull the whole thing over, as I’ve been trying to figure out whether it’s a joke, a sign of the declining quality of public education, or–and this is what I’ve settled on–proof that Southerners like this professor are engaging in next-level thinking by nimbly incorporating fresh ideas and zeitgeisty concepts into their curricula. Regardless, I’m pretty sure Professor Mathieu Deflem won’t have trouble filling this class next semester.

Travel+Leisure Hearts Charleston

The 2010 America’s Favorite Cities survey is out, and Charleston, South Carolina is the overall winner. Not only does the Holy City rank first in friendliness and attractiveness (hello!), it ranks number two for its sense of style and breaks the top 10 for its intelligence (take that Berkeley!).

T+L has a handy little widget that lets you compare two cities to see how each matches up. I did–shocker–Charleston vs. New York. Click here to see the results.

Live from New York: It’s Claire Bryant!

Photo: Max Kitchell

Please tune in to WQXR 105.9 FM tonight at 9 p.m. South Carolina native, cellist Claire Bryant, will be featured as part of the “McGraw-Hill Companies Young Artists Showcase.” Bryant, a Julliard alum, recently received the 2010 McGraw-Hill Companies Robert Sherman Award for Arts Education and Community Outreach, and where I come from (which also happens to be Camden, South Carolina), she’s a pretty big deal. Huge. You can catch the program live on WQXR 105.9 FM in N.Y. or by visiting http://www.wqxr.org/programs/young-artists/2010/sep/29/.

Something About the South

I know it’s hot outside, but it seems the media is sweating our fair South particularly hard this month. First, Travel + Leisure (the first magazine to hire me, way back in 2004), ranked Charleston, South Carolina, the 3rd best city in America in its 2010 World’s Best Awards (the Holy City was narrowly eclipsed by NYC and San Francisco). Then, I opened up this week’s New York magazine–the one with crazy James Franco on the cover–to find this observation by City Council Member Letitia James on page 7: “I just see the U-Haul trucks, and people coming up to me and kissing good-bye. They just indicate to me that their dollar can go farther in the South.” Now, upon closer inspection, I realized that James said this in 2007, but given the economic freefall we’ve been experiencing since then, I can only imagine this is even truer today. (If they’re looking for a less expensive place to call home, though, let’s hope they’re not heading toward Charleston.)

Nikki Haley, Covergirl

As seen at Hudson News in Grand Central.

Nikki Haley could be South Carolina’s next governor. For now, she’s Newsweek‘s current covergirl.

Hunter Dixon on Rue La La

"Wedgeworth" Lagoon Silk Ruffle Dress

For the next two days, you can shop Hunter Dixon‘s price-slashed collection of flirty tops, dresses and jackets here.