Friday, February 29, 2008

just as i suspected

hrmmm. the "luxury condo" market is faltering in the outer boroughs. i wonder why? read the article here:

The president of W Financial, Gregg Winter, said: "Mediocre projects — uninspired designs thrown up in ho-hum locations — are now justifiably suffering and selling at a pace akin to Chinese water torture. For years these projects would somehow manage to get financed, built, and slide though the system buoyed by a rising tide that caused amateur developers to believe they actually knew what they were doing. Winter 2008 is indeed a time of reckoning; however, my current experience is that the strong, well-designed, and well-located projects are still selling.

In certain projects, developers are contemplating price reductions or conversion to rental. One senior development director told me, "Sales have dried up in Long Island City even for products in the best locations. Since October, we have only sold five units."

Another developer in Williamsburg said sales have fallen by at least 50% in one project, and he is converting his other 12-story development to rentals from condominium. Projects in downtown Brooklyn and Fort Greene are having difficulty attracting purchasers even at prices as low at $550 a square foot.

yeah!

Thursday, February 28, 2008

mother knows best

today i was going to wear a sweater that i used to love. it's only six-months old, but since it is acrylic, it already looks and feels like crap. it's all pilly and yuck. where is this leading you wonder...well, when i was moving into my "alternative" dorm freshman year of college, my random roommate had already moved in but was out of the room. so my mother started rifling through some of her things, including a pile of pastel sweaters. then she uttered those fateful words: "uh oh, hazeldove, these are acrylic!" this obvs meant that my roommate and i would most likely be incompatible, which turned out to be the case. her knuckle cracking habit didn't help things, either.

anyway, back to my acrylic sweater. i actually bought it with my mom last september at tj maxx because i thought the style was really neat and it felt like real wool, maybe even cashmere! i also considered buying a second one in black because that's how i roll. fortunately, my mother talked me out of buying the black one, and now i have a grey one for the goodwill. good thing i paid the maxx for the minimum. am i right?

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

overheard in my apartment

hazeldove: hey, i just bought these really cool pants. you'll like them. they're like sci fi with zippers!

darkpony: ummm, i think those are called parachute pants.

hazeldove: but check it out. i can carry a pistol in this pocket after the apocalypse!

darkpony: after the apocalypse? ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha...

Friday, February 22, 2008

stop. hammertoes. (sung like mc hammer!)

i was already feeling a little queasy this morning, and then had to stare at two horrific subway ads. first was the jerry orbach "gift of sight" ad, which i've previously mentioned, and the second was for "downtown podiatry" where you can get your bunions and hammertoes, well, hammered out. gross! hello, i don't need to see the before and after pictures, and the after pictures surely aren't much of an improvement. believe you me. those are just some sorry feet, deformities or not. and the foot with the little cocktail weinie toes! geez! this shitzatz should be outlawed in the subway.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

ah, the "scud stud"

remember him from the first gulf war? this little tidbit on pagesix, which i only read for kicks, reminded me of his existence:

THE "scud stud" may fire a legal missile at Mike Nichols and Universal Pictures. Arthur Kent, former NBC News heartthrob, is angry that clips of his Gulf War reports were used in NBC Universal's "Charlie Wilson's War" without acknowledgement. "It was a pretty basic breach of copyright law - brazen, even. And this from one of the corporations that's always moaning on and on about piracy," Kent tells Canadian gossip Shinan Govani. Kent, now a politician in Calgary, isn't too impressed with the Tom Hanks movie, either, calling parts "emphatically false." NBC Universal didn't get back to us.

my mother and i both had a crush on him, and he made the war much more interesting than it actually was. just kidding. anyway during the winter of 1991, i would come home from school, and my mother and i would crank up the kerosene heater in the freezing family room, lie on opposite ends of the couch, eat snacks, watch donohue, and take our afternoon siesta/pass out from the kerosene fumes. when we would come to around 5:30 central and mountain time, the "scud stud" would be on the news. oh yeah! those were the days!

p.s. actually, i feel like there was more round-the-clock war coverage on the major networks because the war had only begun in january of that year. am i right? hmmm.

neat-o!

thanks to recommendations from google reader based on my subscriptions, i've come across these three fine blogs, which i have now subscribed to. they make me want to get creative and crafty. that is for sure!

"poppytalk," which darkpony thought was called "poopytalk" (ha ha!), is a very nice blog that features home design, crafts, artists, etc.

"fine little day" might be my new super favorite. it is by a woman/designer in sweden who has a great eye for everything.

"fops and dandies" is by a new yorker with great style who photographs her outfits almost daily. this one is bad for me because it feeds my need to shop for clothes. i've been trying to be good about limiting my shopping. trying is the key word!

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

check this shizatz out, yo!

my friend "walter faure" has a new blog that i would label as being political, but at the same time i wouldn't limit my description to that. also, darkpony contributes some sci fi news and videogame reviews every once in a blue moon. oh snap! anyhoos check out "poor richard" here. it's also in my blog roll over there to the right. neat!

in other blog friend news, i was worried that "the hag" had given up on blogging forever, but she's back. ray!

finally, here's a blog i came across the other day which i couldn't stop reading. again, it's right up my alley. keep up the good work!

the death and life of new york city laundromats

this interesting article in the new york times (for once) illustrates the problems that arise when commercial rents skyrocket in certain neighborhoods, forcing necessary businesses, such as laundromats, to close. this has happened in greenwich village, and i remember an acquaintance telling me that she has a great, cheap apartment on madison avenue on the upper east side which she can't give up, but there is nowhere to do laundry. ridiculous!

“It’s the businesses that make a neighborhood a neighborhood that are closing,” said Greg Jackson, president of Mr. Bennett’s block association. “We don’t need any boutiques or fancy bakeries or little cellphone stores. We just don’t need them.”

true dat!

the funny thing is that my neighborhood just gained a much needed second laundromat, which in turn has caused a pricing war with the existing laudromat. oh yeah! 1 quarter used to get me 8 minutes of drying, but now i get 10 minutes. life is good!

Saturday, February 16, 2008

people who annoyed me yesterday

hey girls, could you try to talk just a little bit louder because no one can hear your screeching in this packed subway car. nope. we would all love to be able to hear your most enlightening conversation. really!

boo hoo!

why do i torture myself by reading the new york times' style section? today, there is an article about how lonely it is in the new multi-million dollar plaza hotel condos because most buyers have multiple homes around the world and only use their condo in new york as a pied-a-terre. here's my favorite line from the article:

The family knew the building was nearly empty, but thought Stan could be like the character Macaulay Culkin played in the movie “Home Alone.”

shut up!

Friday, February 15, 2008

you've got to fight for your right to wear stripes!

poor kids:

A Swedish preschool has been criticized for banning its children from wearing striped and spotted clothing since the patterns give one of its teachers severe migraine attacks.
The preschool, in Gallivare, 710 miles north of Stockholm, imposed the ban in one of its areas three years ago. But recent complaints from a parent meant the unusual dress code got nationwide attention Thursday.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

the adventures of mr. lee!

i just wrote this post over at working class cats but wanted to share it here. check it out!

Sunday, February 10, 2008

my bed buddy

rabbit roo!

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

my new boyfriend

you should meet him. he has his own business; he runs the coffee cart on 14th street and 5th avenue. this morning i orderered a small coffee with two sugars, and he replied, "you don't need any sugar, you are already too sweet." ahhh. i bet he only has ever said that to me and no one else. ever.

i'm scared!

yesterday i was waiting for darkpony outside a subway station, and there were two volunteers for barack obama asking people if they've voted while handing out one-sheets with obama's talking points. well, a couple from out-of-town (i assumed by their clothing) walked by and the woman says to one of these guys, "i don't like muslims." the obama volunteer says back to her, "he's a christian," in which she replies, "no he's not (snort laugh)." ughs! omg, this is what people in america think. i'm really scared!

Sunday, February 03, 2008

my new lamp!

isn't it cute? and darkpony and i have already discussed that the acorn is kind of a bit...odd.

art appreciation

here's some public art i've enjoyed recently...

this beauty is my favorite and can be viewed at the city cinemas 1, 2, & 3 on 59th street and 3rd avenue. i like going to movies there not only because of this great painting but also because they tell you to "turn off your pagers" before the movie starts. this cinema should get landmark status before this loveliness disappears.


and this stencil was attached to a construction site in my neighborhood. very nice!

Friday, February 01, 2008

one of these things is not like the others