OMG--It's The Half-Birthday of Brian's Blog!

That's right...today marks the 6-month anniversary of my blog, started way back on March 15th of this year. Yay! Also, I'm reaching a big milestone and one that I didn't think I'd see so quickly. Sometime this week I'll receive my 5,000th page view. I mean, that's pretty cool, right? The Internet likes me....it really likes me! :)

So in celebration of my burgeoning "viewership" and my half-birthday today, I'm just going to post something I like that has no intrinsic news value or current cultural relevance or historical significance whatsoever. It's just one of my favorite YouTube videos of all time and I think you'll see why. So celebrate this mini-milestone with me and dance!

I Had The Time Of My Life

I can't think of any other film star in recent memory who truly made a name for himself instantly with 5 minutes of screen time. But that's exactly what Patrick Swayze did when he took his Baby for a spin in the ludicrous but utterly fantastic finale of "Dirty Dancing" (which I'd encourage you to watch on YouTube). Today, on hearing the news of his passing, I look back fondly on Patrick's star making moment.

I still remember quite vividly the day I saw that film (August 27, 1987), the place (White Flint Mall, Theater 1) and who I was with (both my parents, who I thought might enjoy the 60's angle....for the record they didn't). I also remember how, a week later when I returned to school in Boston, I went to Tower Records and asked if they had the soundtrack. Unbelievably, they didn't. The movie was such a surprise sleeper of a hit that the soundtrack didn't come out until October. I know this because I went to every record store in Boston for five weekends in a row looking for it. When it was finally released, it went to #1 on Billboard and stayed there for 18 weeks, going platinum 11 times over and selling more than 42 million copies.

Though Swayze had many roles in nearly 50 films and TV shows, with wonderful turns in "Ghost", "The Outsiders" and the mini-series "North & South", he will always be remembered for those 5 minutes and hey, there's nothing wrong with that. He walked onto that stage at Kellerman's just another cute, muscly aspiring Hollywood hunk and left it an icon. Not bad for few minutes work. Not bad at all...

New York Celebrates Its Quadcentennial

On September 11, 1609, Henry Hudson's ship sailed into New York's harbor and saw an extraordinary island fronting a massive river which now bears his name. Thus, today is the unofficial 400th birthday of what we now know as New York City.

The 13.5 mile island he found was named Mannahatta, which translated means "island of many hills". Though it didn't have anywhere near the 2 million people who live here today, Hudson did find some Lenape Indians who were its original inhabitants. They even allegedly killed one of his crewmen in what was New York's very first homicide.

Hudson also discovered a hard to imagine natural wonderland filled with soaring trees, countless streams and some gorgeous flora and fauna. To celebrate NYC's b-day, you can see what your block looked like 400 years ago by checking out The Mannahatta Project website and typing in your address. Most likely you will find a field of trees, maybe a stream and, if you're lucky, perhaps even a swamp.

The Art of 9/11

As we arrive at the 8th anniversary this week of the 9/11 attacks, there is a whole lot of construction going on at Ground Zero (which you can watch via these webcams) but the Memorial (pictured here) is not scheduled to open for 2 years and the museum another 2 years after that.

In the meantime, The National September 11 Museum and Memorial has opened a storefront preview site just east of the former site of the World Trade Center. It has models of the plans for the site as well as a comprehensive history of what was there and what exactly happend on Setember 11. The Memorial also has a great new website. One interesting feature, is that they have started an artist's registry on the site where artists have been posting works inspired by the 9/11. The registry includes everything from snapshots of the day itself to childrens' finger painting to some beautiful etchings and sculptures. It might be the best museum available until the real one opens in 2013.

The Wait Is Over--GLEE on Fox Tonite!

OK all you Gleeks out there....tonite is the night. After a four months long wait, Fox's awesome musical comedy series GLEE airs it's second episode at 9pm this evening. Yay! Things to look forward to: another pregnancy, musical numbers, more gayness for Kurt, and more musical numbers. Did I mention the show has musical numbers! :)

If you haven't seen it yet, below is a short preview of what to expect...a lil' Kanye via high school. Also, there's a newly released "directors cut" of the pilot episode available on Hulu. I just watched it to catch-up for tonite and there is some fun additional material that was cut out to make it fit in it's TV time slot.

Woman Jailed For Wearing Pants

In Sudan, it is not only illegal for women to wear pants but the punishment is 40 lashes. You read that right....40 lashes from a plastic whip. A public flogging for pants. Unbelievable.

Lubna Hussein was recently arrested along with some friends who were meeting for lunch, all dressed in loose fitting women's trousers. They were deemed to be prostitutes, arrested and lashed. Except, that is, for Lubna, who plead not guilty. Her trial concluded on Monday and CNN is now reporting that after refusing to pay a fine, she was jailed.

Curiously, there has been no word on all this from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is famous for sporting pants almost exclusively. You would think the outspoken Clinton would have something to say or do regarding this arcane, misogynistic law. Let's just hope that, with all this international attention, Lubna won't be in jail for long.

The Cyclone & The Last Days Of Summerrrrrr!!!!

Last night, I headed out to Coney Island for my annual summertime ride on the Cyclone. Though Coney is going through a rough transition right now where more is being torn down than built up, the Cyclone remains standing and continues to be the most awesome roller coaster on the planet. The picture above of me and my brother and my good friend Mark Sam plummeting down the first hill just about says it all.

If you're looking for end of summer fun, I'd encourage you to ride out to the end of the F, R or Q lines and take a spin on this 80-year old master class of a coaster. And, if you happen to go out tonite, they are having a Full-Moon Special! You get two dollars off the price of admission if you're dressed as a vampire or werewolf. Since the coaster is a little pricey at $8 bucks a pop ($5 for immediate re-rides!), it could be worth the effort and fangs. If you can't make it there today, the coasters is open weekends in September til the 20th.

What's In A Font

Apparently a lot. Recently, I have received requests on FB to join a group angry about Ikea's change of font, from Futura to Verdana. When I first received this, I was somewhat puzzled. I like Ikea as much as the next budget-conscious New Yorker but I didn't know the depth of love their font style had generated amongst the design cognoscenti. There were impassioned comments and posts on how the new font (a Microsoft creation btw) is meant for the web, not print and how its definitely not meant to be blowup to billboard size.

TIME magazine has a nice summary of all the brouhaha. The thing that bothers me about the whole thing is not so much the aesthetic issue but the financial one. I mean, whose bright idea was it to change their corporate font, something that clearly will cost the company millions of dollars, in the midst of the Great Recession? I thought Ikea was supposed to be all Swedish and frugal and smart. Though their website boasts "new lower prices", I fear that this massive change will begin to show up in the price of a Ribba and that would make truly me an unhappy Ikea customer.

Essential Accessory For The Coffee Shop Writer

As a writer who spends a lot of time working in coffee joints, this invention (featured today on LifeHacker) looks to be a work of inspired genius. I usually put my messenger bag over my laptop...or put the laptop back in the bag. But any thief knows that a messenger bag is generally used for carrying a laptop. So this is a much craftier disguise. It is, however, a bit pricey at $86. But, as the folks at LH suggest, how hard could it be to just make your own, right?

I Heard A Rumor...

I don't often post about politics here but this was too juicy to ignore; South Carolina's Republican Lt. Governor is reported to be gay. Now I'm all for gay public officials, but have some exceptions when they're closeted Christian right-wingers pushing religious legislation to issue state license plates that say "Believe" on them. Come on, Mary!

In a blog entry by outing expert Mike Rogers that was posted yesterday, he writes that he has confirmed through independent sources that Andre Bauer has slept with men on more than a few occasions. If you're wondering who Rogers is, he was featured in Kirby Dick's excellent movie about gay closeted politicians, Outrage. He is angry and feisty but he does seem to have his facts in order. There has been no statement from the Bauer's office regarding the "outing". But his official state portrait says it all. Total gayface, right?

What's most interesting about all this is that Bauer might have to step-in to replace the infamous cheater Mark Sanford in case he resigns as governor or is impeached. Hmmm--I wonder which one South Carolina citizens will loathe more? The homosexual or the philanderer. Tough choice....