Not that that’s become an unusual situation for me, huh? Slept like crap last night, as usual, but with more vivid and stranger dreams than usual – some of which, no surprise, involved me going to my soon-to-be-ex employer’s head office and not knowing anyone there. I don’t think I need Dr. Freud or Dr. Phil to tell me what that one means. And the other stuff, a bit more intimate, I can figure that out as well. Not that it really helps any.

Some people lose mobile phones, I lose headphones. I used to have the Shure E500 ear buds. Some would say they are the best around and they’re certainly priced up there – US$500/HK$3300 or so. But they were fabulous. A year and a half ago, when my car got broken into, they were in the bag that was stolen. They were so good that, after just a moment’s hesitation, I replaced them with the same ones.

But I’ve lost them and spent two weeks tearing the house apart with no luck. I’ve got big headphones but these were my only decent earbuds. But I knew this time I wasn’t going to fork out that kind of dough for another replacement. Checked out some reviews online, couldn’t really narrow it down too much.

And then, much to my surprise, one of the shops at the Wanchai Computer Centre was more than willing to let me test drive several sets. Some were already open and they had alcohol wipes at the ready to clean them before and after I tried them out. I tried Sennheiser, Ultimate Ears, some brand I never heard of but the guy swore was famous Westone(?) and Shure – all models in the HK$1,000 to $2,000 price range. I listened to a variety of music with each – everything from Radiohead to Lady Gaga. And you know, the other three didn’t sound anywhere near as good as the Shures. One was too flat, one too bright, one no bass – and the Shure SE310 sounded so much like my old 500s, I’m not sure I’d be able to tell them apart in a blind test, so for less than half the price of said 500s, I am rebudded.

With my New York City trip just about a month away, I’m compiling lists for possible shopping, entertainment and eating. And of course one thing on my list is a slice of proper New York pizza. Lucky for me, I’ve chanced across Slice Harvester:

I am going to eat a slice of pizza at every pizzeria in New York City. I’m going by neighborhood, starting in Manhattan, getting a plain slice at every place. I am fucking sick of the current trend in Pizza Journalism that’s all about fucking artichoke guacamole tahini pizza on rice dough. That shit isn’t pizza. Sorry. The only instances where “not pizza” actually is pizza are Zante’s in San Francisco on like, 27th and Mission that makes Indian Pizza, and the Turkish Pizza places in Berlin. The rest of it, not pizza. Brie cheese with prosciutto bits and a horseradish mustard, cooked to perfection on flat dough in a hot oven? Sounds delicious, not pizza.

Here’s a shot of a slice he considers “solid.”

That looks like the pizza I grew up with. And yes, I will definitely be having a proper pastrami sandwich as well – I’m relatively certain I’ve tried all the pastrami in Hong Kong and no place has ever come close. And lunch one day somewhere in the East Village, which seems to have undergone a restaurant renaissance in the past few years.

Someone asked me today about the whole Roman Polanski thing. Normally, a 44 year old guy seduces and rapes a 13 year old girl, I’m the “throw the book at him” kind of person. And while I’m a massive fan of Polanski’s films, I know firsthand that great artists can be complete assholes as people.

This case strikes me as something different though. For one thing, it happened more than 30 years ago (and as far as I know, there have not been any accusations of repeat offenses). The girl in the case revealed her identity when she was an adult, sued Polanski and got an undisclosed sum in an out of court settlement, and has said on more than one occasion that the government should drop the entire thing.

Polanski originally pleaded guilty in a plea bargain deal, though after he entered his plea, the judge backed off from the deal – that’s what caused Polanski to flee the country. His lawyers have repeatedly claimed judicial misconduct during his trial. And of course Polanski has not returned to the U.S. in more than 30 years.

At any rate, the weird bit about all this is that he was arrested on arrival in Switzerland at the request of U.S. authorities, but he has had a house in Switzerland for 15 years, he’s been in and out of the country and very visible there. Not only that, but this particular arrival was him coming there to attend a film festival at which he was to receive a lifetime achievement award. Films Polanski directed include Knife in the Water, Repulsion, The Fearless Vampire Killers, Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown, Tess and The Pianist (for which he won the Oscar for best director).

The reaction in Europe on Monday appeared to be one of astonishment. Nearly 100 entertainment industry professionals, including the movie directors Pedro Almodovar, Wong Kar Wai and Wim Wenders called in a petition for Mr. Polanski’s release, saying: “Filmmakers in France, in Europe, in the United States and around the world are dismayed by this decision. It seems inadmissible to them that an international cultural event, paying homage to one of the greatest contemporary filmmakers, is used by the police to apprehend him.”

Jack Lang, a former French culture minister, said that for Europeans the development showed that the American system of justice had run amok.

While Mr. Polanski had committed “a grave crime,” Mr. Lang said, “he is a great creator and artist, and there’s a sentiment here that pursuing someone for a crime committed 30 years ago, in which the victim has decided to drop the case, is unreasonable, a kind of judicial lynching. In Europe, it would be unimaginable to punish someone in a situation like this.

Why does someone in the judicial system decide that now is the time to go after him again? How would justice be served by taxpayer money going towards the cost of an extradition battle possibly followed by a high profile trial? The answer to my mind is that justice would not be served, that this is the action of some schmuck DA trying to make a name for him or herself and this is how they’ve decided to do it.

Let it go.