December 2009
40 posts
Why I Love My Mom
RG: What are you doing with these apples?
SG: Returning them to Publix! They taste terrible.
2009: Year in Photos
This year has left me feeling a little strung-out and ready to eagerly usher in 2010 — but looking back, it was full of a lot of love and important adventures.
Thanks to everyone for making so many special memories — how lucky we truly are.
Pictures here: 2009: Year in Photos
WatchMy dear TR created this — our celebratory sayonaras for 2009, set to disco.
Gat!
Everyone is jumping on the Detroit art scene — including the Economist.
Even my head and dek was about the same as theirs for an article I pitched after my Detroit visit. Granted I didn’t know what I was doing nor did I blanket the industry with my pitches, but it’s nice to know I might have been on to something.
Read this article, so I don’t have to bother writing...
Ahs and Oms
The month-long yoga challenge continues, and I’m happy to report that after numerous days of OMG!!s, I’m finally feeling pretty good. The BV Power Vinyasa classes are so freakin’ hot that all my anxieties just sweat right out. It’s the most horrible and incredible 90 minutes of my day and I both loathe and love Michele, the cheerful instructor.
Thanks to this...
Saturday Boating
Spending the day on the river and back waters of Southwest Florida is a treat you don’t have to wait until you’re retired to enjoy—it happens all the time here. When CR told me they take the boat out a few times a week after work, and that everyone meets at the dock around 5:30pm for a sunset ride, I thought seriously about moving back.
Saturday morning we all met at...
“My heart flutters whenever I hear his key turning in the door, and I think to...”
– Actress Anne Bancroft (1931-2005) about her husband, Mel Brooks
Cool Gray 10 C
I thought I didn’t need or want anything for Christmas this year. Until, I unwrapped this awesome mug from JG. It pretty much rules.
Scotch Night Initiation
No, I don’t think there’s a liquor that makes me angry or mean. But I think I just found one that makes me sad.
New York City in a Bag
The truth is, it only takes a couple days for me to miss New York, even when I’m having a great time somewhere else. Lucky for me, TE is an anticipator. He sent off New York City in a Bag, which arrived at my door this afternoon, just as some homesickness kicked in.
Shall arrange them next to my bed so that when I wake up, I see the skyline as if I were in Greenpoint?
Love it.
Big Hooters
Hiking through Fakahatchee Strand this afternoon, we hear the obvious call of an owl echoing through the cypress. We walk and walk and hear it closer and closer, until SG spots the silhouette of the bird about a million miles away.
We assumed it was a Barred Owl, common in South Florida, but I notice that the familiar call “who-cooks-for-you” sounds a little off.
(Wow,...
Happy Blizzard
- With love from CK
Really?
Please tell me who thinks these are a good idea.
And for $688?
Can't Promise Bill Murry Again...
…but the Village Voice did pick GM’s party as the place to be tonight.
“Our pick for Brooklyn tonight would have to be Snack N Cmish’s last-minute BYOB loft party featuring Stilove4music’s DJ Rahaan alongside Monk One and Snack N Cmish themselves.”
If you’re in town, like I wish I was… head to my cousin’s loft in a couple hours!
TBL
Maybe I’m just delirious from being home-bound and feverish, or from watching a couple hours of Jersey Shore, but I’m totally taken with MTV’s new show The Buried Life by just watching its trailer.
You there, with cable, already know about it. The premise is four guys set off on a road trip to cross off items on a list of 100 things they want to do before they die. (A...
Happy Birthday, Greg!
Going Once, Going Twice...
The reward for flying home when you’re in a state of sickly misery is that your mom is practically waiting at baggage claim with a huge pot of chicken soup (with rice, bitches!), popsicles, a box of lotion-infused tissues and sympathy. Whoever your mom is, chances are her chicken soup is about a thousand times better than anything Greenpoint can deliver by scooter.
Florida is great...
I Can Handle It
Happy Whatevs!
Sunday night’s holiday party was so much fun. Thanks to everyone who braved the rain to help us celebrate, and kill a couple cases of wine and more food than we’ve ever made. Job well done!
Here are some photos of the night.
Sad Mac
My little MacBook seems to be experiencing either a small glitch or a total meltdown.
Flashing across my screen, along with an alarming clicking noise is this horrible image:
I have an appointment tomorrow at the Genius Bar bright and early.
If there is a God, and s/he is a kind God, I’ll get out of there without having to buy a new computer. And without having a meltdown of my...
Late Night Lulu's
PM: How about that guy? (Referring to a scraggly hipster struggling to open the door of the bar.)
RG: No, he's not going to defend my life.
PM: Nah, he's not even defending his own life.
A Life in Five Photos
In honor of my dad’s belated 63rd birthday (yesterday), and in light of my new scanner access, I’ve pulled five photographs at random from the Giant Tupperware of Dad’s Life.
“Quaaludes, 1972”
In mom’s script: “What a handsome dog.”
Uncle Bradd, girlfriend Rhonda, Uncle Paul and Dad — Brothers in their hometown, Las Vegas
...
Please Explain Vol. 4
Who the HELL would buy this?
Shots for Kicks
Man, my arms ache. Why the upper body exhaustion? That’s what happens when you hold a heavy shotgun steady in the air as you follow a flying orange “clay pigeon” across the range.
Skeet shooting, meant to simulate bird hunting, was invented in England by Charles Davies, an avid grouse hunter in the ’20s. The name comes from Gertrude Hurlbutt (nice name yourself, lady)...
Hardware and Haircare
Stopped into the Polish hardware store this afternoon. Here’s the convo I had with a man who didn’t work there, but who hangs out in an old easy chair by the counter.
Him: Nice sweater. Referring to my Detroit sweatshirt
Me: Thanks.
Him: You know, you’ve got the look.
Me: Thanks?
Him: I used to date a lot of millionaires. Debutantes always dress simply, you...
3 tags
Winter Booze for Winter Blues
When the days get short and the temperature gets low, I turn to alcohol to make this dark, cold world inhabitable. (Dude, don’t judge me.)
Luke, our favorite charming bartender at Blackout gave us a preview of the winter drink menu Monday night.
The winner: the Manhattan Avenue, a spin on the classic Manhattan, created with homemade bitters that have a hint of chocolate in the...
AB and her “friend” Maurice
My sleep schedule has been so off lately. 5am and I’m awake, and thankfully so is my dear AB over in Guinea. She’s the only green circle and I’m thrilled to catch her online on the other side of the world.
me: HELLO
AB: HI. you are up early
me: can’t sleep
AB: ohhh. i know the feeling. nightly i have to get up in the...
On our roadtrip, GM and I spent a lot of time thinking about who we would want on our team for the Revolution. Between the two of us, we’re pretty much set — we just need a Navy SEAL (my personal request) and a chemist.
Now, we already know that I can kill something with a gun, but unless I start learning some survival skills I’m going to be dead-weight. (Making coffee,...
Around the World in a Guesthouse
You can go all over the world house-sitting for people who have gorgeous homes and not enough time to spend in all of them. Like this couple - who posted an ad for their home estate in Northern California. Forget house-sitting, I want to be friends with old people who like to take pictures with food as much as I do.
I loved this article on a couple who have spent 15 years traveling South...
3 tags
Love Thy Neighboors
When you live(d) in a neighborhood as colorful as Williamsburg, it’s hard to pick just one local who’s personality stands out about the rest. For seven years we’ve seen the same characters on Bedford, and while familiar faces are seen less and less, many of these fine folk, who welcomed me on my first day down the Avenue, are still wandering around.
1. The John Lennon...
2 tags
Concrete Jungle Where Dreams are Made Of
The photographer behind Eyemaze captures the magic of Brooklyn in a really special way. It feels like it’s 2003 when I look at these photos — as though I’m fresh off the boat on Bedford Avenue, wearing an FSU baseball cap and Nike Shocks, marveling at all the magic around me.
4 tags
Sippin' on Coke and Rum, I'm like "So What? I'm...
Life in New York can be total shit sometimes. But you stick out the frequent hardships for a magic moment like we experienced Saturday night, on the dance floor of a K&M “First Saturdays” party.
In a sea of twenty-something, Midwestern-born Williamsburgers on the dance floor, an older, overweight, ruddy bearded Hassid danced his heart out to the mishmash of songs the...
1. Granny’s dining room table in EAH’s house
2. The computer lab at Dunbar Elementary School
3. Passenger seat of the old Datsun
4. The bank of the pond at 1876 Durham Road
5. Anywhere with JL, ML or GM
6. My kitchen during a dinner party
7. Under the covers
8. SG’s backyard an hour before sunset
9. Moto after dark
10. Libraries, hospitals and museums
Future Tag-Sale Inventory
The other night at Spuyten Duyvil, in company made up for the artist/hipster set (and me), I apparently said I wanted to get into photography. The eye rolling and laughter was immediate. This statement will never be lived down.
Fast-forward to yesterday afternoon when I’m on Canal Street exploring the maze of Pearl Paints, the Winchester Mystery House of art supply stores.
I left...
Ready... Set...
I leave for Florida in a couple weeks, where I’ll blog from the beach, the backyard and the passenger seat of a giant American-made white car going the speed limit.
These feel like the last days before things are different forever. In a few months, when AE departs for Paris and I shake out somewhere between here and there, things will look very different. Usually this is exciting. ...
Greenpoint's Newest Starving Artist
In addition to the hipsters who just moved into the first floor of my building (who I haven’t seen beyond the skinny jeans torso installing mini-blinds) Greenpoint has a new resident: Michael K Williams. Of course, you know him better as Omar Little from the Wire.
President Obama once declared Omar, the scar-faced gay bad-ass in HBO’s addictive drama, his all-time favorite...
I (Moth) Stories
One of the best things about not having a job (and believe me, there are many) is that I’m able to stand in line for the Moth an hour before doors open at 7pm. And actually get a seat at the tiny venue it insists on booking despite its enormous popularity.
I’m a total sucker for a good storyteller.
So, naturally, the Moth storytelling series is like a tailor-made evening...