Best I Give Up, I Totally Give Up

I cannot pick better colors for this blog. I cannot pick a proper typeface. I cannot design it one bit.

I am ashamed to have ever called myself a design/style/etc. blog.

This is a blog about what I eat and who I see. And some jokes. It's time for me to face the facts.

Listen. All of you. If you can make my blog not look so embarrassing, I need you.

Best Tales of a Two Day Weekend pt.3: Pie Night! (and not a single picture of pie)

Sunday night. Sunday night Carol had a pie night. I got there a little later than usual expecting to find a dozen people sitting on the floor, talking and eating pie. Nope. I show up and it's a total major gathering. Word.

Before getting too deep into things, I have to take care of two dedications.

This post is dedicated to Dave for teaching me about sRGB.


And there's a secondary dedication to the IR filter on its way here from Germany that will get rid of the purpley hue that pervades these pictures.


Okay, let's get busy. Most of these pictures were not taken to me. Pie night was my new camera's first major social outing and I happily let it free amongst trusted partygoers. Many of these pictures were taken by Lexia, later on they're taken by Hillary, after that Ben. In between? Other people.

And you know what? Forget captions. These are people, people having pie. Without any pictures of pie. Deal with it. If you don't know who Carol is by now, you never will. And if you don't know who that one dude is, it's okay, I don't either.


























Funny how the last 8 are framed just about exactly the same, huh?

After this my weekend ended. That's what happens. Can you even believe it's July 30th?

And maybe I shouldn't have fixed the white balance?

Best Excerpts from Sirens

A Siren reading Ulysses. Google Images never fails!

Well, maybe not the best passages from the Sirens section of Ulysses, but these ones jumped out at me this time. Not much need for context, I post them here as art for art's sake*, but Sirens takes place in a restaurant (although it includes much wandering of thoughts and remembering of times past) and is a musically-themed chapter.

Through the hush of air a voice sang to them, low, not rain, not leaves in murmur, like no voice of strings of reeds or whatdoyoucallthem dulcimers, touching their still ears with words, still hearts of their each his remembered lives. Good, good to hear: sorrow from them each seemed to from both depart when first they heard. When at first they saw, lost Richie, Poldy, mercy of beauty, heard from a person wouldn’t expect it in the least, her first merciful lovesoft oftloved word. (273-274)

It soared, a bird, it held its flight, a swift pure cry, soar silver orb it leaped serene, speeding, sustained, to come, don’t spin it out too long long breath he breath long life, soaring high, high resplendent, aflame, crowned, high in the effulgence symbolistic, high, of the ethereal bosom, high, of the high vast irradiation everywhere all soaring all around about the all, the endlessnessnessness… (275-276)

And Richie Goulding drank his Power and Leopold Bloom his cider drank, Lidwell his Guinness, second gentleman said they would partake of two tankards if she did not mind. Miss Kennedy smirked, disserving, coral lips, at first, at second. She did not mind. (276)

Next Time: From Cyclops, a drawing and quartering drawn beautifully.

*Footnote: After I define postmodernism for you I've also got a functional unifying definition of art I could share.

Best Tales of a Two Day Weekend pt.2: Reunions, Run Ins, Manhattan

Saturday. In the morning I wrote a talk, saw 500 Days of Summer, and ran essential errands.

In the afternoon I saw Lars for the first time in ages. He's back. Lars is back. Did you not hear the trumpets? Did you not feel the drums?

We were all meeting uptown for Westside tacos. We ate well. Every single one of us ordered a quesadilla. Almost every single one of us had our quesadilla with a different meat.


After lunch come across the neighborhood celebrating itself. Not that it can be blamed.


Our parade was cheered by the casual locals.

Tiny and completely inedible it turns out.

The sound of children begging the purchase of pirated toys.

You throw a street even and regardless of the demographics meat on a stick shows up to be sold.

We reached the park, I had to break the Fellowship. I had somewhere important to go.


First visit to Andy's in ages. But it was an ambush. The missionaries were there. And a cat.


Mr. Wu. I don't care if he's paid, he's a saint.


This is me. Wearing a t-shirt I've had for 15 or 16 years.

From Andy's, which is at the ends of the earth, I walked through chinatown, Soho, and the West Village. It might have been only 3 neighborhoods, but it was nearly 4 miles.


And at the corner of Hudson and 12th an amazing double coincidence occurred.

First, I ran into Lars and Jared hanging out on the corner. West Village, yo.


And a bit later, Hillary appeared, just sauntering up the street at the end of the day, piercing the dusk with new sunshine.

Soon you'll see that Sunday was great, too.

And come around sometime, I want to take your picture. We'll learn together, figure this camera out.

Dave told me this way that I can change something in my RGB to make pictures look better on the web. I'm going to figure that out.

Best Tales of a Two Day Weekend pt.1: Last Week Brooklyn Adventure #2

This weekend something remarkable happened: We weren't allowed to go into work on Saturday (because of construction in the office) and we had to go home at 5 on Friday (because of construction on Friday). This meant I had a two day weekend! My first in ages! (Not counting last week when I was in Chicago, that is)

So I did something not done for so long: I went out on a Friday night and I stayed out late on a Friday night. And it all happened in Brooklyn.

I met Carol and Hillary for pizza at Franny's in Park Slope. It was an excellent wood oven pizza establishment, contemporary hip pizza after the notion of the traditional Italian tradition.



We sat outside informally in the back, there was a snail by our table.


Post dinner we walked over to a spot on the very edge of the Parkslope/Red Hook divide for an evening of Tribute Bands. We caught the last song of the Radiohead cover band and the entirety of the Caucasian Morrissey tribute act.


Here's something I haven't been 100% clear about but I've been trying to make known: I bought a new camera a couple of weeks ago, a Leica M8. Here it is being Jimmy Olsen'd by Hillary. What a beauty. (And Hillary's not bad either)


The club was a place to test the limits of it's high ISO/large aperture capabilities. (My camera doesn't have a flash, that's one of its fancy features)


Those in attendance, minus Nick: Abby, Chateau, Carol MyselfCarolHillary, Damien.

Show ended, we hit the streets wary of figurative threats.

Eyeball.


I got these for you.


Pouting on the streets of Brooklyn.

Up in the Bodega frowns turn upside down.


Do you ever get the feeling you're being watched?

And who watches the Watchmen?


And here is the previously not pictured Nick.


Out on the street: a bear claw.


When I got back to Manhattan I dawdled home photographing at windows (here find just one example)...

...this lead to the making of a new friend. What a full night!


I wish to bring charges against blogger for squeezing a lot of the beauty from these photos. If you come over I'll show them to you on my computer, they're much better that way.

Best My Country Cousins Came to Visit (Last Week Brooklyn Adventure #1)

Sandy counts as Country, right?

Last week Uncle Duke and Aunt Teresa came to New York and brought all of their posterity. I saw them for a minute Tuesday night, they were staying at a hotel across from the Parker Meridian. It was 10pm and they were hungry and I was hungry. Took .0001 seconds for me to suggest the Burger Joint and .001 seconds for them to agree. I don't think I'd been there in nearly two years (how did that happen?). Still delicious, it turns out. Fry bags are a lot bigger than I remembered.

This is not all of the Edwards.

Then Wednesday night we got serious. The Edwards were bummed because they couldn't get a table at the Tavern on the Green, but I knew we could do better.

I took them to Dumont in Williamsburg. I don't think I'd been to Dumont in nearly two years, either. That night's meal was one of the best I've ever had there. That place still knows its job real well: being delicious.

Appetizers! Spencer and I shared the crispy artichoke salad, it was excellent and to me it did for artichokes what Momofuku did for Brussels sprouts for me. (I tried and tried to make that sentence work but eventually had to give up) Totally great dish, consider it a must order. In the background Duke had the heirloom tomato salad, very good. Everything on the table that night was real good, no misses whatsoever.

Teresa had the crab cake, they've changed the preparation. Very vegetabley now. In general the menu seemed to have a lot more going on in the vegetable department then I remember from before. One could have constructed a home run of meatless dining that night were they inclined to, and we didn't even try the ricotta and mint ravioli in pea broth.

Mains: Spencer had and loved the hanger steak, Jeff in the background the strip. His peppercorn sauce would wind up spilled across the table but that doesn't mean it can't be used for dipping anymore.

I had the skate, which has been on the Dumont menu for the 5 years that I've known the restaurant and I finally got it. So good. And I felt a little like I was avenging Steve Irwin. A little.

Rachel and Teresa had the macaroni and cheese. Fittingly, Rachel introduced me to Kraft Easy Mac 6 years ago. Thank you, Rachel, for changing my life. (for the better)

Cousin-in-law Patty had the gnocci. Great gnocci. (Husband Dave stayed home with the baby)

Here's the funny thing that happened during dinner: We were sitting outside, under the windows to someones apartment. Towards the end of the meal a little curly haired girl (no older than 4) started dropping wads of toilet paper on us, mostly hitting Rachel and Teresa. Good thing there was nothing gross about the toilet paper.

And then we took the L back to the city and I took pictures. Pictures, pictures, pictures. Stop reading now if you don't want to just see pictures of the Edwards.

Patty, Rachel, Teresa, Duke, Murray.

Jeff.








It was fun and great seeing all the Edwards last week. Last I heard they were headed to Wicked Thursday night DC Friday morning. I hope it all went marvelously for them.

Best Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before

I'm thinking about starting an all-African American Morrissey tribute band. They'll be called "The Blacksmiths."

UPDATE: If it's an Boys II Men style R&B Morrissey tribute band then they're called "The Blaqsmiths."

Best Movie About Summer this Summer

I was aware of emerging disparate opinions on 500 Days of Summer and wondered how the movie would go for me. Turns out I liked it, but there was a while where I didn't know what way I'd be going with it.

Important Bullet Points:

• I still can't believe that Summer likes the Smiths. I never would have guessed it.
  
• When did I know I was on board with this movie? If you've seen it, when Thomas checks his reflection. You know what I'm talking about. And if you haven't seen it, you'll see and you'll understand.
  
• After he saw what he saw in his reflection I was like "Awesome! This is a movie for guys!"
• Is that mysterious enough an incentive to get you to go out and see this movie? Made it worth it for me.
• Sometimes I thought the soundtrack was whack, sometimes I thought the soundtrack was perfect.
• I enjoyed many of the creative little conceits, particularly the Expectations/Reality sequence and the little French film. Which is odd, really I should have hated the little Film
  
• All the actors were real good, I particularly liked Thomas's boss. What a good guy.
  
• Doooood...Lyla Garrity.
• I can't wait to see what kind of Cobra Commander that kid makes.
  

Best Fame Continues to Seek Out My Designer Friends

Maybe you don't have to go to Europe to get known* because there was just an article about Cindy and her paper cuttings (that, to me, sounds better than saying "paper cuts"--who gets in the news for having paper cuts? in the Deseret News.

See?

I think Cindy was my first friend to be a graphic designer, or any sort of designer. I remember sitting in some sort of American Heritage assembly freshman year watching her show some old-timey French designs she had made to Matt.

This is Cindy's paper cut blog and this is Cindy's website.

*Footnote: Just an update, Claire (If you didn't read the original post linked-to above you probably think I'm talking about my mom. You better check that original post.) was interviewed about her work on the Dutch news. Your move, Copenhagen...

Best And These Are Our Mighty Beasts

The cat and the dog (you'll know which is which) they keep much lower profiles these days. The dog walks around acting like she worked in the saltmines all day and the cat looks like he's been living in the mountains, raised by wolves but still we love them. Forever and ever.

Best I Make Lists and Lists and Lists

Because it helps pass the time and work out my brain.
I've been tabulating how many times I've been to the restaurants I've been to in New York during the nearly 6 years I've lived here.

The Unofficial Results:

Sea (Brooklyn): 4 times
BRGR: 5 times
Stand: 3 times
La Tuna: 8 times
Spice: 9 times
Lure: 7 times
Dumont: 11 or 12 times
La Casa de los Tacos: 20 times that I remember distinctly, could be more
Momofuku Noodle Bar: 15 times.
Momofuku Ssam Bar: 19 times.
Momofuku Milk Bar: at least 14 times.
Peep: 19 times.
Nook: 3 times.
Five Points: 9 times.
Paquitos: 12 times.
That Mexican Place on University: 3 times.
Burger Joint: 14 times.
Shake Shack UWS: 3 times.
Shake Shack, Madison Square Park: Absolutely uncountable. At least 15 times.
Freeman's: 4 times.
Schiller's Liquor Bar: 4 times.
Nobu: twice.
Dressler: twice.
Eldridge Street Dumpling House: At least 11 times.
Grand Schezuan (St. Marks): 4 times.
Todai Buffet: 3 times.
Shiki Sushi: twice.
Bonita: 3 times.
Tequila's: 5 times.
La Esquina: 5 times.
Cafe Habana: 8 times.
Blue 9 Burger: 4, maybe 5.
Okama Sushi: 5 times.
Joe Jr.'s Diner: 8 times.
Bao: 3 times.
Banh Mi Place on Broome: 6 times.
Waverly Diner: twice.
Galanga: 7 times.
Westside Sushi: 7 times.
Goodburger: 4, maybe 5.

Next Up: McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's and Taco Bell.

Best It Can Be So Hard to Sell a Shark These Days

Know what I mean?

Best I Will Comment More on this Later

Today on the LA Times Blog, an Essential Postmodern Reading list.

Check it.

It's a list of fine books, but the definition for postmodern apparently at use here is no definition at all, the criteria being considered are no criteria at all. Consider this: "Postmodern books have a reputation for being massive tomes, like David Foster Wallace's "Infinite Jest" -- but then there's "The Mezzanine" by Nicholson Baker, which has just 144 pages."

Come on. Length doesn't have any place being used to determine from what movement a literary work springs.

But the worst: And while postmodern books would, you'd think, have to be published after the modern period -- in the 20th or 21st centuries -- could postmodernism exist without "Tristram Shandy"? We think not.

"You'd think." Yeah, I would. Call me a stickler or, worse, call me a structuralist but nothing can be postmodern that was produced prior to the existence of modernism. What's happening in this list is what happens all the time, "postmodern" is being used to mean "quirky" or "weird." Wrong.

I'll set everything straight soon, I had a definition of postmodern that I find very functional that has shut down a few debates in the past. I just have to remember exactly what that definition was. Give me a minute.

Best Just When I Thought He Couldn't Get Any More Awesome

Always cracking me up.

Best This Is What's Happening Here

Hello. Steady Mobbin' is white now. Why? Just an experiment. I think the pictures might look better this way. We'll see.

Best Hold On...

...turns out this IS a style/design blog because yesterday I was getting all these hits from a url I didn't know at all. Turns out a blog about houses and house design had linked to me because they used a picture I had taken of the Mr. & Mrs. Smith House in Pasadena a few years ago in their post about the Mr. & Mrs. Smith House in Pasadena.


This is the post. I don't agree with how they describe me one bit (A fan that sought out the house? Nope, the grandson of a neighbor), but what can you do?

Also of note is that the blog starts by talking about the Father of the Bride House which is across the street from my Great grandma's old house in Alhambra.

Best I Was Just at Home and Look at What Happened: The Conclusion

Sunday. A big big day. Greg gave his fine farewell address, his buddy Colin gave his homecoming talk, and then Greg got set apart. So here he is, technically totally a missionary.



Dad and me.
Dad and his Mom.
Dad and my Mom.Owen and Greg and that Colin I mentioned at the beginning.

Hermanos. This was Owen's idea or something.

A little more dignified. Just a little.

Uncle activities.

Brotherly thoughts, thoughts of the future? Thoughts of the past?

Church parking lot.

At the house, a final proper Sunday roast beef dinner.





Kristen and Rachel have birthdays coming up.

Grandma Barnes and I. Good job on remembering to get a picture together, Grandma.

Getting dropped off at the airport, Owen and Grandma had a plane to catch too.

Sigh. You can only teach them so much. Let's hope he learns a thing or two in Argentina.

One last picture with my elder brother.

Into O'Hare I went.

Gone.

Best I Was Just at Home and Look at What Happened

Hey everyone, this isn't a style/design blog anymore. It's a pictures of kids blog. Deal with it.

Spent the weekend at home in Chicago, the occasion? Greg's Mission Farewell.

Saturday morning, breakfast was happening in the nook.

Interrupted suddenly by a caterpillar sighting. Investigation was a must.

This one is Ellie.

This one is Rachel. She has a lamb.

Here's an old family game, it's called Rock n Roll. It got invented after I was too big, see if you can figure out how it's played.



Breakfast had, most of us headed for the park at my old gradeschool. This is Kristen. She is my sister.

Mom.

This one is Blake.

This is Cory, he's really doing the monkey bars here.

And this is Owen doing a real pull-up. Or chin-up. You tell me.


And here's me really balancing.


This is Grandma Taylor a.k.a. "California Grandma"

Rachel, swinging.

Rachel, hanging.

Edwards assembled.

Mother again.
Oh it's me again.

Cory looks like he watches Friday Night Lights but actually he's never even seen it.

This is me saying "Not a single episode?"

Kristen is a Mom so she looks worried all the time.

"Don't worry, Kristen. Let's pose for a nice picture together instead."

"No, actually I think I'd rather worry."


Here comes Dad.


Pooped. Not really, thanks to Nordic-Track.

While we were all sitting under the trees way over on the other side of the park this was really happening. Owen didn't get a lot of one on one time as a child so now Mom tries real hard to make it up to him.
Grandma and Emily. Finally, a picture of Emily.

Little bit later we headed down to the place that we go to.

Here's 12 people ready to absolutely wreck a Mexican restaurant.

Don't worry, I was in a group shot too.

And finally, risen from his slumber, the man of the hour, the man of the weekend, Brother Gregory.

Getting down to business. Also please note that by now Grandma Barnes (a.k.a. "Utah Grandma") has appeared.

We spend a lot of time reading the menu every time we go to Las Fuentes but it's all an act, it isn't like we don't know exactly what we're getting.

This visit: 6 plates of nachos, at least.

I like this one, she was the one at the other end of the table yelling "More nachos please!" Come to New York again, okay?

The everybody.

See, I was there.

Something curious: a Hummer with 3 pigeons on it. From a distance it looked like they were inside it.

And Saturday night: the Fare Thee Well Party.

As mandated by tradition, the Missionary Farewell Piñata. Sure he's going to Argentina, sure Owen went to Spain. This is just how we do.


Murder complete.

And look at this, New Yorkers: some Mulcocks rolled up. They're getting tight with my parents, a little too tight. I need to raise my profile, I'm moving up to twice weekly phonecalls home.

And Dear Family: You thought Grandma and I had left for the hotel but really, you were being spied on.



Next: What Happened on Sunday? Soon you'll know.

Best This Week Is Dedicated to Beauty: Hygiene

It looks like I'm being marketed to.

For a while I've just been using my hands to bathe with my bodywash, but that's no way to live. So I went to the drugstore to get a scrubby thing. They had them in light blue, they had them in white, they had them in pink (all colors I've done before) and wait...they had them in Black? What a fine manly color, I thought to myself.

When I got home I noticed the tag:


For Men!

Best This Week is Dedicated to Beauty: Design, Internet Fame, and Coincidences

Two of my favorite beauticians (meaning someone who works in the realm of beauty--why, is there another meaning to the word?) are Claire the Architect and Brittany the Interior Designer. As far as I know (and I feel I know pretty far) these two don't know each other at all and I'm hear to talk about some mad coincidences.

Presently, Claire is living in Holland working for a "eating designer." Brittany is in Copenhagen honing her craft. Last week Claire's workplace (and face) were featured in Wallpaper Magazine Online (you'll have to click on the slideshow to see her). Also, last week Brittany began contributing as a foreign correspondent for Design*Sponge (here's one, and another [those are in reverse chronological order]). These two substantial and praiseworthy online conquerings were first made known to me through gchat statuses on the same day at practically the same time. That's out of the ordinary, isn't it? Can you imagine how I felt with all these coincidences raining down on me? It was crazy.

Anyhow, a public bravo to both of them. Perhaps their internet accomplishment and Euro-proximity shall yield a new friendship? Or, more excitingly, a terrible and bitter archrivalry? Time will tell!

Best This Week is Dedicated to Beauty: Film.

It's too bad that it wasn't until Thursday that I decided Steady Mobbin' would be dedicated to beauty this week, but the first three days of posting seem consistant enough with the theme.

Right now what I want to say is: I'm pleased and relieved that Ebert gave 500 Days of Summer four stars. If you've talked to me in real life you might know of my worries about this movie (which I'll go into after I see it and talk about it here), but Roger has given it a pretty strong stamp of approval. I am prepared to let this be the second movie I see this summer that I actually like without reservation.

Best This Week Is Dedicated to Beauty: Literature.

In case you were worried or wondering, yes, I'm reading Ulysses and yes, I'm having a great time. It's going slower than anticipated and it turns out the book is trickier than I remembered but still I'm loving every minute and every sentence.

Originally I had pretty ambitious notions of making a post about each chapter of the book and dropping lots of quotes and insight and research on you. After spending the better part of a Sunday several Sundays ago just tackling the introduction to my thoughts on Telemachus, the book's first chapter, I realized that that ambitious notion wasn't going to happen.

BUT that doesn't mean you aren't getting any Ulysses. This week I've mostly been reading the Wandering Rocks chapter and I came across a scene I just thought was too nice not to share. Please, read and see what can be done with words. (A little background: in this chapter Stephen Dedalus, one of our protagonists, is walking around Dublin):

Stephen Dedalus watched through the webbed window the lapidary's fingers prove a timedulled chain. Dust webbed the window and the showtrays. Dust darkened the toiling fingers with their vulture nails. Dust slept on dull coils of bronze and silver, lozenges of cinnabar, on rubies, leprous and winedark stones.

Born all in the dark wormy earth, cold specks of fire, evil lights shining in the darkness. Where fallen archangels flung the stars of their brows. Muddy swinesnouts, hands, root and root, gripe and wrest them.

and a few paragraphs later:

Stephen went down Bedford row, the handle of the ash clacking against his shoulderblade. In Clohissey's window a faded 1860 print of Heenan boxing Saers held his eye. Staring backers with square hats stood round the roped prizering. The heavyweights in light loincloths proposed gently each to other his bolbous fists. And they are throbbing: heroes' hearts.

Just little descriptions, that's all. But to me they stood out.

Best It's About Time

He always wanted a brother.



First night out on the town with the new kid. I was halfway home on the subway when I realized I had left half of my belongings at work, I guess I was a little too excited about the new kid. Back to the office I went and then cabbed it home. I never ever take taxis, but it was 11:30, I'd had enough.












Pretty pleased with the uninformed snapshotting so far.

Best Long-Awaited Totally Awesome Party

So yes, like I was saying, Saturday night Carol had her Tom Cruise Party. Why "Tom Cruise" of all the themes to pick? It's a little out there, right? Why not a robot party? Answer is simple, it's because Tom Cruise lived in Carol's very apartment in the 80's. Seriously.

When I got there her apartment had already been converted to the Scientology Celebrity Center for the evening.

But the party was not yet full-blast, some folks were just having dinner, others watching Top Gun.

But give it 45 minutes and the costumes come out. Carol as a...wait, just now I don't know what Carol was going for, I assume a Last Samurai geisha? That must have been the idea. Collin was a Risky Business Tom Cruise.

Di's Wide Shut.

Me, I was Nazi Tom Cruise from Valkyrie.

Grace was Keri Russell in Mission: Impossible III. Maybe you should click here to understand how spot on her get up was.

Dave: Goose. I've never really seen Top Gun. Or any Tom Cruise movie. In fact, I think I've only seen him in the Mission: Impossibles and Minority Report.

Jeff was a Rain Man.

Helen, the Unicorn from Legend.

Hillary a Suri Cruise.

And here's the winner: Lexia as the Top Gun girl. Perfect.

How about another one, just to drive the point home?


Collin kept trying to feed Tom all night.

Jared showed up as Goose, too. Great uniform, right?

Turns out HE DREW THE WHOLE THING ON. Wow. So maybe it's a battle between Lexia and Jared for best costume?

Reghan: Girl from Cocktail.

Chris: Outsider.

Emily: The Outsiders girl.

Ashley: A Magnolia.

Nick: Also an Outsider.

And now we party and dance. Who's Jeff? He's Joe, from Joe vs. the Volcano. Jeff misunderstood, he thought it was a Tom Hanks party.

Chateau: Cocktail Tom Cruise.

Lexia: Hair + Ray Bans problems.

Mindy: Katie Holmes.

Maria and Katie: Pretty sure they were just chillin'.

Like Jamar.

Kim was the girl in Jerry Maguire.

A highlight, as mentioned: Droppin' Old Time Rock n Roll for the various Risky Toms. I had no idea Abby was at the party until this song played and I think she vanished when it was over...or maybe the song just summoned her out of thin air? Who knows.




Adam: Couch-jumping Tom Cruise.

Amber: Also a Suri.

Hostess, happy, because she's got a totally excellent party.

Then getting serenaded with a little "You Lost that Loving Feeling" a la Top Gun (apparently.)

Ty: Mission: Impossible T. Cruise. Hilarious.

It seems there's a scene in Rain Man where Tom teaches Dustin to dance?

No dancing lessons necessary.

Whatsoever.
Jamar was just chillin and keeping it low key all night so I had to play something to bring him out.

And that's why I played Single Ladies.


Suvi, also enthusiastic for the dancefloor.


Collin and Jared fly into the Danger Zone.


Apparently marker runs when it gets wet? Or soaked?


Well into the night, Amber teaches some Brazilian dance steps.

It's for the song about the stolen scooter.

And finally, a knee slide.



Totally excellent party. Can't wait for the Hootie and the Blowfish gathering in the fall (Because, yes, Hootie [and I know that's not his name] lived in Carol's house in the 90's. Deal with it.)

Best Old Time Rock and Roll Setlist

After months of planning and dreaming, Carol threw her Tom Cruise Party Saturday night. It was a monstrous success. I had the honor and the pleasure of picking the music for the party--thanks to Carol's input I had plenty of hits from T.Cruise's movies and lots of crowd pleasers to play in between them. Plenty of party pics to be posted tomorrow, but I'll start you off with the most important thing that happened that night:


What Was Played:

"Everything In It's Right Place" by Radiohead (from Vanilla Sky)
"Playing With the Boys" by Kenny Loggins (from Top Gun)
"Black Hole" by She & Him
"Take Me, I'm Yours" by Squeeze
"U Got the Look" by Prince
"Kiss Me" by Stephen "Tin Tin" Duffy
"Sometimes" by Les Rythmes Digitales
"Lights and Music" by Cut Copy
"Deceptacon" by Le Tigre
"I Want You Back" by the Jackson 5
"Good Vibrations" by Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch
"New Sensation" by INXS
"Ready for the Floor" by Hot Chip
"Shut Up and Let Me Go" by the Ting Tings
"Poker Face" by Lady Gaga
"Time to Pretend" by MGMT
"White Collar Boy" by Belle & Sebastian
"Mission Impossible Theme" by Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. (from A Few Good Men)
"Nothing to Worry About (Troublemaker Remix)" by Peter Bjorn & John and a bunch of rappers.
"Young Folks" by Peter Bjorn & John w/o any rappers
"P.Y.T." by Michael Jackson
"Iko Iko" by the Belle Stars (from Rain Man)
"Girls & Boys" by Blur
"To Die a Virgin" by the Divine Comedy
"Old Time Rock & Roll" by Bob Seger (from Risky Business)
"A Little Respect" by Erasure
"Sweet Dreams" by Eurythmics
"Mama Said Knock You Out" by LL Cool J
"Take On Me" by Aha
"You Shook Me All Night Long" by AC/DC
"I Believe in a Thing Called Love" by the Darkness
"Get Low" by Flo-Rida (from Tropic Thunder)
"Kiss" by Prince
"You've Lost that Loving Feeling" by the Righteous Brothers (from Top Gun)
"That's Not My Name" by the Ting Tings
"Je Veux Te Voir" by Yelle
"Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" by Daft Punk
"Common People" by Pulp
"Like a Prayer" by Madonna
"Single Ladies" by Beyonce
"Just Dance" by Lady Gaga
"We Are Your Friends" by Justice & Simian
"Talk Like That" by the Presets
"Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins (from Top Gun)
"Age of Consent" by New Order
"See You Again" by Miley Cyrus
"Come on Eileen" by Dexy's Midnight Runners
"Kokomo" by the Beach Boys (from Cocktail)
"You Should Be Dancing" by the Bee Gees
"If I Ever Feel Better" by Phoenix
"When I Get You Alone" by Thicke
"Daft Punk is Playing at My House" by LCD Soundsystem
"Around the World" by Daft Punk
"Motinho Roubada" by Some Brazilian
"Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson
"Requiem for O.M.M.2" by Of Montreal
"Take My Breath Away" by Berlin (from Top Gun) Technically this was the last song of the evening, but I followed it up with my...

HARDCORE TECHNO AFTERPARTY!!

"Three Little Birdies Down Beats" by the Chemical Brothers
"Kalifornia" by Fatboy Slim
"Lovelight (Soulwax Ravelight Vocal Mix)" by Robbie Williams
"Original Nuttah" by UK Apache
"Up to the Wild Style" by DJ Supreme

And after the party, the Hotel Lobby:

"Long-Forgotten Fairytale" by the Magnetic Fields
"Secret Garden" by Bruce Springsteen (from Jerry Maguire)

What I absolutely loved about this party was playing next to no hip hop. It was nice to take a break and play some different stuff.

Now Please Tell Us About Breakfast

Clif Bar and what I thought was juice. It's not juice, it's drink and there are some serious problems with it.

V8, you have betrayed my trust.

Dinner!

Here at the office, every Thursday night is Quesadilla Night and all through the day the workplace anticipation is absolutely electric.

And What About Today's Lunch?

I'm the worst at salad bars.

Best Welcome to the Fun Corner

Don't these two pictures remind you of those "Spot the Difference" picture games? You know?

Let's Try?

Can you Spot 10 Differences between these two pictures?



(Confession: I only know of one difference, but certainly there will be many, right?—Ed.)

And What Do I Think About Dinner?

Meatloaf, carrots, spinach...all could use more salt.
What is it with this place?

My Review of the Firm Cafeteria's Low Sodium Split Pea Soup

needs salt.

Best Yes, It was a Long, Long, Time Ago

"Growing Up Star Wars: 1977-1985" Only visit this flickr pool if you've got time and tears of nostalgia to spare.

And yes, drawings of Chewbacca would count for hairy monsters.

Best SEE

Blanket got the memo.


And didn't we all feel a little ashamed of ourselves when we realized he really was someone's dad?

Best I've Got a Better Idea

Old & Busted: Chalkboard paint
New & Awesome: Permanent markers.

(Don't forget, this is a style/design/dessert ideas/etc. blog now.)

Best a Plug for the Underdog

I finished filling another Moleskine the other week, actually, I set a new record for Moleskine filling: 3/15/09-6/29/09, RIP. Put it up on the shelf and it was time for a new notebook, and I did something different and daring. I bought one of these:


It's a Leuchtturm notebook, probably world famous somewhere else in the world, but to me, new and unknown. Why did I buy Leuchtturm? Curiosity over several potential advantages to the notebook. They are:

• Includes the little bookmark (which actually I always try to rip out as I just use the elastic band for a bookmark) of a Moleskine as well as the little pocket in the back, so right off the bat you're not missing anything essential to the small, booklike notebook experience.
  
• Approximately 1/2" taller than a comparable Moleskine.
• Numbered Pages. BIG selling point.
• Space for date at top of page.
• Table of Contents: may prove useless to me, but I have begun to fill out.
• Perforated Pages in the back. A feature to some, but not all (likesay, the ones I've been using) Moleskins.
  
• The paper stock strikes me as being whiter than a Moleskines. Could not be true, though.
  
• Surprise Super Bonus Feature: Includes stickers to date and label the notebook when you're done and it's time to archive the little guy. Very good move here, Leuchtturm. I had been wanting to find little labels for my Moleskine spines.
• Also: $3 cheaper than a Moleskine.

For me, it all adds up to: Worth a shot if you're the Moleskine sort.

Best You Might Have Missed It

Hey! Check out all the fun we're having in my lunch post from Friday.

Best a Day of Independence

The Fourth of July, Two thousand and Nine. My first Saturday independent from the workplace in ages. I celebrated by rising and going out into my Upper Western sided neighborhood. I'd heard a rumor that the uptown Shake Shack would be serving corndogs this day. The rumor proved to be patently untrue.

So I did what I expected I would, traveled downtown for a long longed-for breakfast. There is no way you could possibly guess where I had this. (Hint: I opted for the biscuits and gravy and scrambled eggs that I had been craving over the day's special, a sweetbreads McMuffin.)

Morning hunger taken care of, I proceeded to do what I do naturally when time is mine: wander the Eastern and Western villages.

At around Broadway and 10th or 11th you can find these school projects:








Union Square, Farmer's Market in effect.

Washington Square, the fountain was happening. Lots of little jazz trios and quartets battling for attention and change.

Over on MacDougal I discovered they tore down the building where the Law School paper office (a.k.a. my home away from home away from home during those years) was. What will be built in its place? A new building to be shared by the Law School and Theatre School. Of course. I suppose this is the sort of thing I'd know about if I read Alumnus publications more closely.


INSERT HERE: A gap of many hours mostly spent in a wonderful nap and involved in a half dozen gchats and phonecalls centered on one topic: No one knew what to do for the 4th and has hoping someone had an idea. The fireworks were to be launched this year over the Hudson River between the high twenties and the fifties (as opposed to the usual East River show) and this had everyone feeling confused and clueless.

But by 7'ish we had met on 23rd street and headed for the river.

I noticed a trend amongst my fair company...


When in Rome!

The masses, we headed for the sun.

Staking out a spot on the West Side highway.

A favorite.

Collin brushed those pesky helicopters right out of Hillary's hair.

That's me. Figured I should show up for this post. I was too much the absent presence until now, correct? I have a horrible cold but a summertime shirt.

Environs.

Turns out, totally coincidentally, that we had sat ourselves down on the highway right by where Di and her friends had sat down...when we arrived, only the friends of Di's that were strangers to us were there, so it was a surprise, a total surprise.

Di and Traci and others had been involved in a covert and clever operation: grilling hotdogs at the end of a nearby alley. Ingenious. American ingenuity, really.

The darkening...




Night falls, final touches of grooming attended to before the celebration of our nation

Ka-BlAmmO! Obligatory fireworks photos to show it happened, to prove we were there.



Injured gravely, carried by a friend.

Nearby, after a lot of yelling by me into several different cellular phones, Jared and Laura were found. Patriots all.

And now, these pictures are for you and your heart:



A city aflame with pride. For our nation.

Best Thing I Heard at Work Last Week

When, during the post-firedrill briefing, we were told "This building is fully sprinkled."

Delicious.

Best I'm Serious

Name a month and a year and I'll tell you what I was having for lunch in those days.

Seriously.

Best It Must Have Been Love Because This Breaks My Heart

Moving out of my old apartment was just about the saddest thing to happen to me in New York. I haven't taken much time to dwell on it as I've been too caught up in the excitement of my vagabond lifestyle, but I know there's definitely a part of me, not too deep inside, that fully believes that any day now it'll just walk right back into the John Adams and on home to old 15B.

That part of me, the 10011 part, was delt a savage blow today when I learned that Joe Jr.'s, my old across-the-street diner, lost its lease and is shutting down this weekend.

photos via Eater

It's just a terrible thing to have happen to the spirit of the neighborhood to which I'm still endeared, no matter where I'm laying my head for the month. I know that not everyone who ever ate there had the best meal, but it was a fixture and it worked for me...a place for an early meal with visitors, coming of going, the place where I unwisely had the Lumberjack Breakfast before beginning my Trademarks take home final, the place where I watched the gruff lady packing gratis dinners for the neighborhood's homeless at night, the place where I eavesdropped on some of the most ridiculous conversations I've ever heard in New York while eating what had become my latenight comfort staple: a BLT with a split pea soup. One night I sat there taking in a trio of identically dressed and coiffed sinister New Jersey meat heads who had parked their drophead Bentley right in front, a few times I passed by to see Steve Forbes sitting in a front window seat. One time I went there the fellows and Duane impressed the gruff waitress by telling her in Greek that he had lived in Greece as a missionary, the result: a whipped cream dessert on the house.

I must have become a "real New Yorker" at some point because here I am, bemoaning the transformation of "my" neighborhood, looking back on the way things used to be. So many remember whens, they just pile up one after the other.

Perhaps the neighborhood will save it, who knows. Continuing coverage available at Eater.

Best Suddenly So Interesting

Frank Lloyd Wright. The Guggenheim Museum. What do they have in common? Frank Lloyd Wright designed the Guggenheim Museum. Okay, we know that. But another thing they have in common is that I thought they were both neat, but was feeling over both of them. You see, I'm from Oak Park, that's where Wright had his home and studio, living in Oak Park you see a lot of Frank Lloyd Wright houses, you hear a lot of Frank Lloyd Wright talk, you show your visitors a few of the houses, you feel some pride...but, yawn, you know? A little over it. Nice houses, yes. Let's move on. Same with the Guggenheim: truly iconic, extremely photographical. Pretty much impossible to walk by it without taking a picture. You visit it, you walk up the windy ramp, you take a ton of pictures from the main floor...but, yawn, you know? Pretty over it. It's something to see but how many times can you see it? And if you want me to go inside, it better have something pretty cool inside, right?

Well, let me tell you something: Now I'm totally about Frank Lloyd Wright and I'm totally about the Guggenheim. There's this new exhibit there called "Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward", an exhaustingly exhaustive exhibition on Wright featuring his designs, new models based on those designs, old models based on those designs, and totally unexpected things like a theater curtain he designed. I guess what I was sick of, re:FLW, was seeing his houses and being told who they were built for and when they were built. But what it turns out I've got near boundless energy for is looking at his drawing and designs. And the drawings of houses of his that I was well familiar with was good and well, but my favorite things to see were projects of his that never got built.

Such As:

• The Donahoe Triptich (there were more and better pictures at the show)
• The Automobile Objective and Planetarium
• This apartment building that was going to be on St Marks Place

etc., etc., it goes on and on, check it out for yourself. Some of the designs were so magnificently not entirely of this world that I thought it a terrible shame that Wright and Tolkien (or Lucas) never got to work together.


As you reach the top of the Guggenheim you finally get to the history of the construction of the museum and by then it's exciting. The very last thing in the exhibit is a bit of wall text with a picture of Frank Lloyd Wright inside the Guggenheim looking it over while it's under construction and looking at that picture I realized, "Wow. Wait. That picture was taken right where I stand." Suddenly, after looking at his work all afternoon, it's you and him on top of the museum. To me, this was striking.

This exhibit will wear you out (it might as well be Epcot there's so much to see) but I give it a major thumbs up.

Best Last MJ Post

Well, Monday was Wear White Socks for the King of Pop Day and as far as I know, it was an enormous success. Here I have gathered all the photographic evidence of participants I've received thusfar. If you participated and have got a picture I'd love to see it.

Your Honor Guard:

Me in NYC.

Mitch in London. First submission of the day.

Niall in London.

Jeff Butler in NYC, first domestic submission.

Cher, probably in Newark.

Amber, in like Queens or something. I'm not sure. Update: Turns out it was Loma Linda.

Greg in Oak Park.

And Meredith in Dubai. That's right, Dubai. White Socks for the King of Pop was an international sensation of epic proportions.