In re: the post before mine…awesome idea. I went to the Brooklyn Museum last week for the first time, and I really cannot recommend it enough. Try to get into an argument over whether “that’s really a cat mummy” for that extra helping of fun. (Warning: Gift shop may be deadly for those, like me, who are raccoonishly attracted to shiny objects.)
Also, I lived near the Empire State Building for seven years, and only went to the top for the first time last summer…and I’m telling you, good times. I think I saw my parents in New Jersey. So, head on over to lower midtown and pour out a forty for your homie Fay Wray. The view is rad.
I am, however, saddened to report that the Cyclones game I went to last night was…kind of annoying. The bat race was not administered correctly, in my opinion, and also, shut up between innings, guy from Z100. Nobody cares.
And now, a question: Best egg cream in Brooklyn? Talk to me, people. I’m thirsty and carb-friendly.

This weekend I got to play the part of a New York Tourist. I had some friends in town for the first time so I showed them all the major sites that I see all the time and always take for granted. Everyone that visits here is always telling me how this is such a great city but its to fast moving and so tiring I always tend to ignore them but this time I decided to look at things from the aspect of the first timer here and it really is a big city with a lot of extremely amazing things to do and see. I guess since I see it all everyday it’s not a big deal but more New Yorkers should start to pay more attention to all the things around us and maybe we can start to not only enjoy but also appreciate it more. We live in the greatest city in the world it really is time for us to enjoy it more. My advice is to go out into the city one day and pretend to be a tourist. I’m going to try and see something new in the city every weekend.

Y’all, I’ve whored Joe’s Pub before, but they’re doing this thing this year that’s awesome. It’s this, Joe’s Pub in the park.
THE INAUGURAL CONCERT SERIES PRESENTED BY THE PUBLIC THEATER IN ASSOCIATION WITH MTV AND VHI, FEATURING PERFORMANCES BY JONATHA BROOKE, MOS DEF, GAVIN DEGRAW, BEBEL GILBERTO, MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO, SUZANNE VEGA, UTE LEMPER, JOE JACKSON, TODD RUNDGREN!
It’s because I was trapped on the 18th Floor of the Regency Hotel for a damn press junket all weekend that I have no the hell else idea what to talk about. Anthing not having to do with work doesn’t make any sense to me right now. What’s an “Olympics”?
And I’m leaving to spend five days in Portland. Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.

how about at the nywiki? you’ve heard about and/or used the wikipedia, yes? no? check out the nywiki, and add something new that you know about our city… and, while you’re at it, check out the new york city pages of the wikipedia… maybe you can learn and/or add something new there too…

Not much, in the case of the illustrious Bagel Barn in Bay Ridge (65th Street at 13th Ave., if you’re in the market for a snack) — but damn, do they make a good sesame round. Also? Drive-up window. LOVE that. And everyone’s really nice. Most bagel shops have an inverse correlation between the awesomeness of the product and the pleasantness of the staff; the better the onion knish, the meaner the counter guy. But not at Bagel Barn.
Go to Bagel Barn. It’s good.

The hurricane is downgraded to a tropical storm, soon to become a tropical depression. (That term always cracks me up…I think of dudes in Hawaiian shirts, staring sadly into festive umbrella drinks and muttering to each other, “I don’t enjoy a colada the way I used to.”)
I cleared a storm drain of litter debris on my way back from coffee this morning — my neighborhood doesn’t have trash cans at each corner, and I’ll delve into that irritation in a later post — and was surprised at the sheer volume of water traveling into and underneath the drain, not least because I believe that volume remained steady all night. New Jersey’s going to be a water park by Columbus Day if this doesn’t let up.

Snacky is this great asian tappas place on Grand St. between Beford and Driggs. Super cute and really tasty. should be called that: Tasty Snacky…
anyway, the dishes there are small, so it’s best to get a few of them at a time. sonia and i have been going there consistently for a couple of weeks now, and i think we’ve got it down to a science. we HAVE to get the bi-bim-neng-myun (spicy cold noodles with beef and spinach) and the kimchi-tofu salad. then, if it’s just us, we have to choose between the asian pizza, the pork and chives dumplings, or the juicy buns. it’s ideal to have more than just two of you to eat, so that you can order whatever you like and won’t have to leave out any of the yummy ones! we’re thinking of suggesting to the owner (she’s very nice) that we should have our own special combination of dishes, making it THAT much easier for us to order. So, if we have one guest, it’s the Sonia/Mina +1 special, and so on… i wonder if she’ll go for that…
Their sake is also great. the largest size comes in a beautiful hand-blown glass caraffe with a bubble inside where they put the ice to keep it cold and never watered down! we prefer the happy spirit. and if anyone should remember, please try their happy buddha drink special. we haven’t had the guts to go for it yet, even though it comes in a large ceramic buddha… BUDDAHHHHH!
Oh, and I have mention that they always play good music, have AC, and play mostly-asian dvds on their tv. thank goodness for subtitles!
enjoy!
Snacky
187 Grand Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211
phone: 718.486.4848

1. I saw Maggie Gyllenhaal at Pop Burger in the meatpacking district. Had to hold myself back from yelling, “Hey Maggie. We would make such good friends! Can I borrow some clothes and hang out with you and Kirsten?”
B. City-based blogging has been written up by the Associated Press. Does that mean we’re totally old news now? Is blogging so 2003?

Not that this story about a couple getting electrocuted isn’t sad, because it is, but the shock-prevention tips that seem to accompany it (everywhere it appears, not just at the end of this version) are just straight-up stupid. I mean, they’re not stupid; they’re correct. But…”Don’t touch downed power lines”? Does anyone over the age of five need to be told this?
Local news in this city (and probably elsewhere, obviously) has a really irritating tendency to follow the “if it bleeds, it leads” rule and put randomly tragic stories like this at the top of the news hour — and then turn around and try to make the audience feel safe and in control by appending a bunch of “you can avoid a senseless death like this by not having a soap bubble for a brain” mental-hygiene-film rules to the end of it. And it’s dumb. Those kids drove into a giant puddle that had a power line in it. They had no way of knowing it, YOU will have no way of knowing it if it happens to you, and the thing is, it probably won’t. It’s not on the actuarial table, that shit. The odds of something like that happening to you are between slim and none, so why not just say so, or bury the story and talk about something more generally pertinent to the audience?
I don’t know. Maybe I just have Roz Abrams poisoning tonight or something.

it’s all over the news today–quotes from an ap newswire–that new york city’s student code of conduct has been ammended to include a “no sex in the stairwell” phrase. no alcohol. no pot. no slurs against ethnic, transgendered or homosexual students either… hm… just students?