heads up

if you are anything like me, ash wednesday always catches me off guard. this is why i'm mentally preparing in advance for tomorrow, so i won't be surprised when i have to have what is an already awkward conversation with a co-worker with the addition of a smudge of dirt on his/her forehead. i have to prevent myself from staring at said forehead and look into the person's eyes instead. nothing against catholics or anything, but you should be required to stay home once you get the smudge, then i wouldn't have to concern myself with this problem.

the coal miner's daughter conspiracy

seriously, i have received not one but two damaged dvds of coal miner's daughter from netflix. what up? the first one was completely unplayable, and the second one was fine for about an hour until it froze up at the most climatic moment. why are so many copies of coal miner's daughter damaged, anyway?

p.s. i'm still planning on changing my account to greencine instead of netflix. i have to admit that i've been kind of lazy since i already have my queue and all established with netflix.

my favorite food

stovetop stuffing. i had it for the first time last night, and i think i love it. i'm going to eat it everyday. yummy.

Awaiting Hollywood Glitter Along the East River

not me.

there is another article in the new york times about the silvercup studios waterfront plan, and how it may affect the residents of the queensbridge projects. my favorite line of the article is this: "If two developers have their way, Queensbridge may soon have a sister city." yeah, like two sisters separated at birth. i also like the way they don't refer to the housing that will be part of the complex as luxury when someone asks if they are going to have "unaffordable housing." the ny times clarifies by writing, "In fact, all the Silvercup West housing will be market rate," aka luxury. the thing that drives me insane about this city and all of the new development is the fact that there are a lot of perfectly good buildings that are standing empty right now. we need to nurture the city's history, not destroy it.

i think that i'm going to run against the lic city council member, eric gioia, in 2009. watch out, gioia, that anti-graffiti platform has nothing on my platform. boo yah!

channel 7 late movie weekend schedule

since my dream job is to be in charge of the channel 7 movie archive, i wanted to let you know what's playing this weekend to schedule your life around:

saturday, feb 25th, 2:30am: brittanic
saturday, feb 25th 11:30pm: the taking of pelham one two three (this remake of the original is often played on channel 7)
sunday, feb 26th, 11:30pm: lying in wait

mama mia

so, my mother likes to relate any movie she watches to her own life. yesterday, she calls to tell me that she rented the weatherman, starring nicholas cage, and there was a part that was sooo coincidental to her own life. here we go:

"remember when your brother and i spent christmas in new york with you? well, in the weatherman, nicholas cage's fat daughter's nickname is camel toe, and he says, "here i am in new york for christmas with camel toe.' remember how your brother called you camel toe that christmas, and it was the first time i had ever heard that term?"

help me!

cute picture friday!

it's the real hazeldove checking out the shells she collected on the beach on nantucket. she's lookin' good for being 86-years old. too cute! by the way, when we were on nantucket, i so kicked her butt at croquet.

shut the f up!

"the difference between sasha cohen and the other skaters is that they skate to "romeo & juliet", sasha is juliet."

p.s. saw some woman wearing the new style olympic beret on the subway yesterday. i couldn't stop staring.

you don't want to get on my bad side!

i used to like the silvercup studios until they unveiled their 1 billion dollar complex. here's why this complex is a really awful idea:

1. it's in my neighborhood.
2. luxury condos suck.
3. the nearest subway is at the queensbridge projects. danger danger.
4. the view of the bridge and smokestacks from my living room window will be obstructed.
5. the movie/tv industry sucks.
6. when the only thing currently filming long-term at your studios is "hope & faith", good luck with that.
7. a thriving community will never happen in the area. haven't you learned anything from the queens west waterfront development?
8. didn't you already try to expand with silvercup east and fail?
9. too much nyc competition from the steiner and kaufman astoria studios.
10. shooting on location in nyc may have increased significantly, but it will most likely level off. soon.
11. toronto.
12. i bet eric gioia has something to do with this. hey gioia, stick to your stupid anti-graffiti platform.

more garfield moments of my life

i say: i sure hate it when my socks are droopy.

garfield says: i sure hate it when my socks are droopy...in my lasagna.

i heart beefheart?

i would have never thought of myself as a captain beefheart fan, but i sure do like the song, abba zaba. who knew?

are you blind or jackie o.?

then don't wear your stupid sunglasses while riding the subway (unless you are in an elevated train, and the sun is shining brightly in your eyes). sheesh.

striped and skinny quick vote #3

is it considered cool when a 31-year old woman dresses like a granny?

hazeldove's book club, book #3

i can't believe that i have read only three books this year. i used to be such an avid reader but have been super busy as of late.

the third book for my book club is field study by rachel seiffert.

rating: pretty, pretty, pretty and 1/4 good

likes: short story collection, dark, deals with the fall of communism, two stories have the same characters

dislikes: none

recommended short story collections: here are three stellar short story collections i read last year. i recommend all of them highly. small crimes in an age of abundance by matthew kneale, last night by james salter, and god lives in st. petersburg by tom bissell. check them out. it looks like all three are available or will be available shortly in paperback.

this is why i prefer trading spouses

last night, there was a two hour wife swap special on called "wife swap saved my marriage." the show revisited some of the families that were previously on wife swap. here are some lessons i learned if your wife swap experience made you realize that you and your family are super boring and uptight:

1. demonstrate that you and your family aren't uptight anymore, thanks to wife swap, by dancing badly together.
2. if you are an uptight stay-at-home mom, admit that you have a new found love of rap music, thanks to wife swap.

the garfield moments of my life

i say: boy, i could really use an afternoon snack right now. how about a candy bar?

garfield says: boy, i could really use an afternoon snack right now. how about lasagna?

psa

so, i notice that my blog gets a lot of hits from people searching for "skinny pants," since they are so fashiony right now. but for you people searching for "striped skinny pants," god help you (unless they are pinstriped and part of a skinny men's suit). believe you me.

video voyeur pow wow

a few of my fans have secretly come out of the video voyeur closet. we definitely need to have a pow wow over drinks. pronto. call me.

my dream job

did anyone happen to watch the channel 7 late movie sunday night, video voyeur: the susan wilson story? it was the best tv movie i've seen in a long time and based on a true story. i love the channel 7 late movie. i would love to be in charge of the channel 7 movie archive because it's the weirdest mix of movies ever. one night, a john cassavetes film will be on, and the next, video voyeur. i would say that the majority of the movies fall into the made for tv or straight to video category. i also like the fact that time and money have gone into someone actually doing the voiceover for the title and star of every movie: "now back to video voyeur, starring angie harmon." if i was in charge of the channel 7 movie archive, i would be working in the same building as sam champion. that would be the best!

check out this busy bee

my friend chris and his business partner ben have a lot happening lately including doing the design exhibition out of foam for the current moma exhibition, on-site: new architecture spain. they also have a book out to do with architecture and algorithms or something something, so check that out, too. it's published by the princeton architectural press and is called pamphlet architecture #27: tooling. keep up the good work!

sui-shopping under the influence

let's just say that i had a few too many bloody marys at brunch yesterday and came home with a really awful pair of boots.

how many fatalities were there in iraq today?

who cares when the top news is a powerball winner who hasn't claimed his/her money. ah yes, the american dream of spending all of your hard earned money on lottery tickets. things would be different if it was a shirley jackson type "lottery".

hire me, jim davis

i say, "today would be much better spent in bed."

garfield says, "today would be much better spent in bed...eating lasagna."

stretch armstrong

it's cute picture friday. actually, this isn't one of the cutest pictures i have of pony, but it's all i have to select from while i'm at work. he and i are playing with the cat dancer. he's such a good player! ahhhh.

President satisfied with Cheney's account (cnn.com)

which really means, "Vice President satisfied with Cheney's account."

exciting celebrity sighting

i saw alan greenspan in the lobby at work today. what a tall drink of water!

pet peeved

i really hate people who don't dress appropriately for the weather, and now, i hate them even more. seriously, new york city is just one big frat bar these days.

run free, bohem c'est la vie

this is what happens when you put too much pressure on a dog to be perfect. my mother did the same thing to me growing up and now look at me. no worries, i'm dialing up my therapist as i type.

i'm peppered. you're peppered. wouldn't you like to be peppered, too?

see, dick cheney was peppered when he went hunting.

We'd taken a break at lunch -- go down under an old -- ancient oak tree there on the place, and have a barbecue. I had a beer at lunch. (the words of dick cheney)

if that beer he had during the barbecue was anything like the fishbowl-size cocktails served at bbq's, dick cheney is in trouble with a capital T.

should a man with gout even be drinking beer? what about with a major heart condition? i'm obsessed with the gout.

harry whittington and me- two peas in a pod

i know, i know, this is old news, but i just love the soft language that has been used to describe the dick cheney shooting incident, especially by the ranch owner, katharine armstrong.

"Harry....got peppered pretty good."
"It knocked him silly."

yeah, i got peppered pretty good and knocked silly, too, at a party last weekend.

should dick cheney even be hunting when he can hardly walk because of his case of gout?

starry, starry night

the 5th avenue subway station has this ancient advertisement for the MOMA. today while waiting for the train, i witnessed some former frat boy from out of town pretend to ponder van gogh's starry night, which is on the advertisement, for a solid minute. i haven't seen anything like that since art history 101.

does anyone else secretly love the don mclean song "starry, starry night" like i do?

yuuummmy....mud scrubs

the cafeteria at work has a global vegetarian station, and each day the station has vegetarian cuisine from a different country. usually, it revolves among italian, indian, chinese, mexican, thai, etc. today, it's going to be spa. what country is that from?

never leave home without a spare eye patch

or a spare pair of glasses. if your optometrist tells you that biomedics brand contacts are totally awesome, don't believe him. if i don't throw one of my contacts away once a week, one usually pops out of my eye down into the sink drain anyway. i don't know if it is my left eye or the contacts, but i'm blaming the contacts. like today, the contact was scratching my eyeball like crazy, so i just threw it away. now, i have to sort through the biggest excel document ever with one working eye. grrrr.

fallen superstar

so, i used to be the blogging star in the apartment until darkpony posted this link. he is now muy popular with the fashionistas. they're going crazy for his little monsters mixed with high fashion. could i be any more jealous?

Didn't you so tell us about this too?

this question was recently emailed to me by one of my loyal readers with this link. thanks for the heads up! i did so tell you and warn you about the return of the "awful" olympic beret back on january 19, 2006. again, this slate.com article falls along the lines of major news sources that have stolen article ideas from the little people, meaning me.

the netfix

so, i used to be a fan of the netflix until yesterday when i heard about their throttling algorithm. the more you take advantage of their "unlimited rentals", the more they try to stop you from renting too many movies each month. hey netflix, i've got an algorithm for you, the cancel my subscription algorithm. oh snap! i'm moving my business over to greencine.com. they don't have a throttling algorithm, but they do have porn. check it out.

guess what?

it's cute picture friday, and once again, i'm showing off my cats. too cute! what gentlemen.

CBS Spanks 'Love Monkey'

i knew i was the only one watching, and since i forgot to watch this past tuesday's episode, the show is now being cancelled. too bad so sad. besides all of the other dumb things about the show, i think it was way too canadian. i mean i have nothing against our friends up north, but if you want to make a show about nyc, it can't be too canadian. they should have never hired the guy from ed or jason priestly or referenced hockey.

i told you to watch out for this guy

word on the street is that my loyal reader and friend, benjamin strong, received a shout out from jay mcinerney on npr's fresh air yesterday. jay mcinerney referenced benjamin's village voice review of his latest book, the good life. that's totally super awesome, benjamin!

you may not know this about me,

but i'm a bit of a hypochondriac, which leads me to ask this question: should my stomach muscles be sore as a result of the tri-borough cosby walk i took yesterday? darkpony thinks it might be due to the broad jump competition that happened in front of the silvercup studios. what do you think? i'm not allowed to go on web m.d.

my first friendster rejection

i don't have many friends, so of course, i don't have many friends on friendster. this is why i noticed that someone is not my friend anymore. someone i work with. what does this mean? he had even written a testimonial about me which had said that if he was a girl, he would want to be me. what happened? shoot, i knew i should have bought him a wedding present when he invited me to his wedding, but he wasn't registered anywhere. note to those who ever invite me to their weddings: please register for wedding presents somewhere, so i don't actually have to think about what you want or need. who actually takes the time to reject friends on friendster? jerkbutts, that's who.

cwc and me

just finished my first walk with the comprehensive walkers club, and i think i passed the test (darkpony says i only passed the first test). i did get some points taken away because i dragged everyone up to our apartment, so i could use the bathroom. i mean we were right there, so i don't know what the big hoohaa was. this was the tri-borough cosby show walk. we started in the west village where the actual house for the exteriors of the cosby house is located, walked over the brooklyn bridge to brooklyn heights where the cosby show took place, and then walked through brooklyn to astoria to the kaufman-astoria studios where the show was filmed. wow, it was a long walk but pleasant and went by fast. the only problem is that my dogs are a barkin' at the moment, and i can barely walk. i hope this problem is only temporary. i bet you can't wait to see our picture of the group high five! nerd alert.

muzings on muzak

the wendy's by my work recently started playing muzak, and it's really calming. today, one of my favorite songs was played while I was waiting in line. no other establishments ever play this song which is why i continue to love wendy's. the muzak version of love's "alone again or" is rockin'. plus, since i never can understand the words to songs, i was able to sing along (in my head) with my own lyrics. what fun! i think that all eating and drinking establishments should play muzak. it would solve darkpony's problem of not being able to concentrate or enjoy his dinner/drink due to loud, distracting music. mayor bloomberg, can you hear me?

it's too cute friday

you must check these out because darkpony has really outdone himself with cuteness. firstly, there is this animated gif which i could watch all day long. too cute! then, there is this picture which is also just too cute. i love it. good job, darkpony.

i heart emmet otter's jug-band christmas

i have borrowed this link from goldenfiddle. anyway, forget rudolph, frosty, and the heatmiser, emmet otter's jug-band christmas is the best christmas special ever. i used to watch it every year when i was a kid. it's entertaining yet touching and has an awesome soundtrack which you can you know (wink wink) here. check it out. i've got to see if the netflix carries this special edition dvd. they must.

today's going to be a good day

call me superstitious, but i saw my favorite neighborhood dog, sinbad, this morning. that's why today is going to be a good day. i love sinbad. if i ever stole anything, it would be sinbad. sinbad's best friend, lady, died recently. she was a super old timer. r.i.p., lady. a few years ago, sinbad dressed up as a policeman for halloween, and lady dressed up as a flapper.

Lohan injured in teacup accident

upon reading this headline, did anyone else think that she was injured on the disneyworld teacup ride? oh okay.

as exciting as when geraldo opened al capone's vault

darkpony is a member of the comprehensive walkers club which meets on sundays. he's only done it once, but he is now totally fanatical about it; hence, this point system he created to prevent girls from joining. this is a first for striped and skinny, but i'm going to do a live blogging event, a critical evaluation of myself to see if i fit the bill. here it goes:

a scoring system for anyone to walk with us you need to breach the 50 point threshold to walk (starting with a score 100):

negative points: -85

• girl -10 -10
• known whiner -20 -20
• slow walker -30
• has to pee alot -20
• needs alot of snacks -20
• needs to take alot of breaks -50
• tries to be too funny -15
• talks too quiet -10
• knowledge of area -5
• informative with knowledge (overbearing) -20
• won’t go offroad -20 -20
• too nosy -10 -10
• talks about stupid stuff -20
• keeps talking even after a number of hints that subject matter is not funny -100
• walks ahead of CWC officers -25
• claims to have good sense of direction (proven false) -25 -25
  tries to pay for lunch with creditcard(collecting everyone elses cash and stiffing the waitstaff on tip) -50

positive points: +100

• cute(girl) +20 +20
• quiet +10
• brings snacks +10 +10
• laughs at CWC officers jokes +25 +25
• knowledge of area +5
• informative with knowledge (not overbearing) +10 +10
• willing to go offroad +10
• willing to jump things +5 +5
• interesting conversationist +5 +5
• walks fast(but not faster than CWC officers) +10 +10
• good sense of direction(proven) +10 +10
• smoker (and liberal sharer) +5
• never pees +5 +5

i scored a 115. see you sunday, suckers!

this is why i don't have cable

so, i caught a snippet of cnn on tv this afternoon, and jack cafferty was doing this segment about how injured soldiers think that the injured abc new journalists are getting way too much coverage. then, jack cafferty threw it over to wolf blitzer who followed with an update on the abc news journalists' injuries. hmmm?